VIENTIANE: Malaysia has emphasised the importance of upholding Asean's principles of freedom, which includes the right to maintain good bilateral relations with all countries,
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he reaffirmed this during all the summits and bilateral meetings he attended over the past three days.
"We continue our good bilateral relations with our good friends, the United States and the European Union, but we also strengthen our relationship with China and continue our relationship with Myanmar in order to resolve the complex political issues in that country.
"At the same time, (Malaysia also has a relationship) with Russia, which is not favoured by some Western countries, but I emphasise that as a free and sovereign nation, we have the right to establish relations with everyone," he said.
Anwar was speaking to Malaysian media after the close of the 44th and 45th Asean Summits and Related Summits here.
The prime minister said he had attended 12 Asean summits here, including the ones with the US, Australia, China, Indian, japan, Canada, South Korea, the United Nations, the Asean Plus Three and the Asean-East Asia.
"Alhamdulillah, we also took advantage of this summit by holding a series of bilateral meetings with several countries. Next year, when we chair Asean, we will launch the Asean Community Vision 2045, and this is a very good agreement," he said.
Anwar said Malaysia would also try to expedite Timor-Leste's membership in Asean, but that country needed to meet all the requirements first.
"Under our Foreign Ministry, we will try to expedite the process. Most of the constraints are related to economic regulations, and the investment, trade and industry minister (Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz) will assist them in fulfilling several prerequisites that have been set," he said.