KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The Asean Senior Officials’ Meetings (SOM) and related preparatory sessions kick off today, setting the stage for the 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here from October 26 to 28.
These sessions, scheduled until evening, will pave the way for high-level ministerial engagements beginning Friday (October 24), leading up to the opening ceremony, to be officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Chair of Asean 2025.
Running concurrently is the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) to Asean, to be attended by the Ambassador of Timor-Leste to Asean, Natércia Cipriana Coelho da Silva, and the Deputy Secretary-General of the Asean Political-Security Community (APSC), Datuk Astanah Abdul Aziz.
The CPR meeting will review progress across Asean’s political-security, economic, and socio-cultural pillars while aligning deliverables for adoption during the summit week.
Meanwhile, the evening session will convene with the Asean Joint SOM-SEOM (Senior Economic Officials Meeting) and a welcome dinner for Asean SOM Leaders, Timor-Leste SOM Leader and Asean DSG APSC hosted by the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Secretary-General cum Asean SOM Leader of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Amran Mohamed Zin.
Under Malaysia’s 2025 Asean Chairmanship theme of ‘Inclusivity and Sustainability’, the 47th summit and related summits is set to be one of the largest meetings in the bloc’s history, serving as a crucial platform to foster deeper collaboration while addressing regional and global challenges in a cohesive and inclusive manner.
The event will also see Timor-Leste’s active participation towards its accession as the 11th member of Asean, which is expected to be announced on October 26.
Lao Foreign Affairs Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane is among the earliest foreign diplomats to arrive in Malaysia ahead of the 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits, seen here with his wife Vadsana Phomvihane in Kuala Lumpur on the night of October 22, 2025.
Aside from Asean leaders, US President Donald Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the European Union President Antonio Costa, and Japan’s first-ever female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are among the over 20 world leaders scheduled to converge in the Malaysian capital.
This is the fifth time Malaysia has assumed the Asean Chair since the bloc’s inception in 1967, with the previous chairmanships in 2015, 2005, 1997 and 1977.
