Your Royal Highnesses Your Excellencies Colleagues Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen: Iam deeply honored to welcome you to the Thirty-first ASEAN Ministerial Meeting. I would also like to acknowledge and welcome the Foreign Minister of Papua New Guinea, H.E, Roy Yaki, and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia, H.E. Dr. Chem Widhya, who are attending this Meeting as observers. I congratulate H.E. Prof. S. Jayakumar on his election as Vice Chairman. I shall look forward to his enlightened advice for the successful conduct of this Meeting. I would also like to express our appreciation to our Secretary-General Rodolfo C. Severino, Jr., his predecessor, Dato’ Ajit Singh, and the staff of the ASEAN Secretariat for their unfailing support and assistance during our year-long ASC chairmanship.