One of the most important ASEAN events takes place next Tuesday morning, November 20, at Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Peace Palace as a gallery of world multi-lateral agency leaders meet to discuss ASEAN and East Asia issues. Speakers include Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Haruhiko Kuroda, president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Pascal Lamy, director general, World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and Mrs Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director of the World Bank. The ASEAN Global Dialogue is Cambodia’s initiative as chair of ASEAN for 2012. Its purpose is to promote ASEAN as a serious high-level platform for dialogue on global issues by attracting the attention of international multilateral institutions and UN organisations to support the “ASEAN’s Phnom Penh Agenda” as adopted by ASEAN Leaders at the 20th Summit in April 2012. The theme of Tuesday’s discussion is “The role of multilateral institutions, ASEAN and East Asia in addressing economic and financial disorder”. Lawyer and government advisor Sok Siphana, who will attend the event, said the importance of the meeting lies in Cambodia’s promotion of ASEAN as a “serious high level platform for dialogue on global and regional issues.” “The event will raise the political and economic profile of ASEAN,” Sok Siphana said Wednesday. “ASEAN has evolved into an institution that nurtures a close political, economic and social cultural integration,'' he said. ''ASEAN is an influential player in Asia to be reckoned with as well as an unavoidable strategic partner for large countries and major global organizations. Cambodia as chair of ASEAN this year is proud to launch this first initiative which Cambodia hopes can be institutionalized by future ASEAN chairs and this global dialogue is one of the legacies of Cambodia’s 2012 ASEAN chairmanship.” To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Alan Becker at [email protected]