IN A week’s time, Brunei Darussalam as Asean Chair 2013 will play host to the 23rd Asean Summit and other major meetings where Asean leaders along with their counterparts from China, Republic of Korea and Japan as well as Asean Dialogue Partners such as the United States and Russia will gather from October 9 to 10 to discuss a wide range of political, security and economic topics.

His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam as the Chairman of the 23rd Asean Summit yesterday toured the venue for the summit, the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas, to take a closer look at the country’s preparations, particularly the halls for the 23rd Asean Summit, including for the official welcome of Asean leaders, gala dinner, 8th East Asia Summit and 16th Asean Plus Three Summit.

Brunei will also host the 16th Asean-Japan Summit, Asean-Republic of Korea Summit, Asean-China Summit and the 1st Asean-US Summit.

The White House said recently that US President Barack Obama will discuss the wide range of US cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, including energy, maritime security, investment, development and trade promotion, as well as other topics of regional and global concern.

The gala dinner will be held in the Plenary Hall of the ICC and His Majesty spent time to observe a group of students rehearse for the grand finale of their performance. The monarch also checked venues for the closing ceremony and the handing over of Asean Chairmanship to Myanmar as well as the Press Conference Hall where His Majesty is expected to hold a press conference.

Present to welcome His Majesty at the ICC were the Minister of Finance II at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Ibrahim; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II, Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Dewa Dato Seri Setia Awang Lim Jock Seng; Minister of Energy at the PMO, Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awg Hj Mohammad Yasmin bin Hj Umar; as well as other senior officials.

The 11th Asean-India Summit and 5th Asean-UN Summit will also be held. The 23rd Asean Summit will be preceded by the Asean Senior Officials’ Preparatory meeting.

His Majesty also toured the International Media Centre where hundreds of foreign and local media will cover the event. - Borneo Bulletin (2 October 2013)