YABhg. Tun Musa Hitam, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, will represent YAB Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Haji Abdul Razak as head of the Malaysian delegation to the 32nd ASEAN Summit from 27-28 April 2018 in Singapore. YABhg. Tun Musa Hitam will be accompanied by his wife, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, YBhg. Dato' Seri Ramlan Ibrahim, and senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister's Department.
The upcoming Summit will be the first meeting of the ASEAN Leaders under Singapore's Chairmanship for the year 2018. Singapore's theme, "Resilient and Innovative", will provide a platform for the ASEAN Leaders to deliberate on ASEAN solidarity and the organisation's ability to navigate emerging challenges such as terrorism and violent extremism. It also reflects on Singapore's emphasis and commitment to promote schemes that capitalise on innovation.
The Summit will also provide a platform for the leaders to evaluate the progress of on-going efforts to strengthen the ASEAN Community, premised on the ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together document, which sets overarching goals for the three pillars of ASEAN.
The Leaders will further take the opportunity to exchange views on the future trajectory of ASEAN-led initiatives, as well as contemporary issues germane to the interests of the region and the wider international community.
The ASEAN Summit was preceded by several meetings of different levels namely, Meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR) on 25 April 2018, the ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) on 26 April 2018, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, the ASEAN Coordinating Council and the ASEAN Political- Security Community Council Meetings on 27 April 2018.