Cambodia will host the thirteenth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit on November 25 and 26 via videoconference, the Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday. Cambodia will host the summit virtually given that the Covid-19 pandemic still prevails and emerging variants trigger new waves in many parts of the world, including Cambodia, said Foreign Ministry's secretary of state Luy David, who is also the ASEM Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) leader for the country.

According to a press release on the outcomes of the ASEM SOM released this morning by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Meeting was co-chaired by Cambodia, as the host of ASEM13 and the European Union and attended by all 51 ASEM SOM Leaders as well as the representatives from the EU, ASEAN Secretariat, and Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).

The announcement comes after the ASEM SOM was held via videoconference last week which was attended by all 51 member leaders, as well as the representatives from the European Union, ASEAN Secretariat, and Asia-Europe Foundation. The meeting substantively discussed the draft of the Phnom Penh Statement on the Post-Covid-19 Socio-Economic Recovery, which will be one of the two outcome documents to be adopted at the ASEM13, the Ministry said.

Originally scheduled for November 16-17, 2020 in capital Phnom Penh, the summit had been twice postponed due to the pandemic.

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