The ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting (Post Ministerial Conference – PMC+1 with the EU) was convened on 25 July 2016 at the of 49^th AMM/PMC in Vientiane, Lao PDR. As Thailand is the current Country Coordinator of ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations, H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Thailand, co-chaired the Meeting with H.E. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic which currently holds the rotating European Union Presidency.

          The Meeting welcomed that Thailand’s efforts as Country Coordinator since last year. An ASEAN-EU Coordinating Meeting was convened in October 2015 in Bangkok. Thailand’s Foreign Minister also met with the High Representative on Foreign and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Union (HR/VP) twice at the margins of the Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Luxembourg in November 2015and recently at the Asia-Europe Summit in Mongolia in July 2016, to take forward ASEAN-EU relations.

          The Meeting welcomed the importance of elevating the substantial developments in ASEAN-EU Relations and their relations to a strategic level. In addition, 2017 will mark the 40^th anniversary of relations between the two regional organisations.

          Both sides welcomed the upcoming ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) that will be held in Thailand in October 2016, and stand ready to closely coordinate with one another in order to ensure the success of the Meeting and mutual benefit for peoples in both regions. Furthermore, ASEAN and the EU will work to enhance cooperation, to resume ASEAN-EU FTA negotiation, promote connectivity, and sustainable development, and negotiate ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement which will be the first bloc-to-bloc agreement of its kind for both regions.