TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As part of a mission to forge cooperation with the ASEAN region, the Swedish Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank Belfrage, paid a courtesy visit to the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN A.K.P Mochtan at the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, 21 November 2013.
Mochtan welcomed the Vice Minister and his team during late hours, for which Belfrage expressed his gratitude. He shortly briefed Belfrage on the recent development in the region. Belfrage conveyed his interest in expanding several of Sweden's Southeast Asian programs on sustainable fishery, development of coastal areas, and sanitary management of urban areas, to ASEAN.
Belfrage and Mochtan later held a discussion on opportunities and challenges towards a more integrated ASEAN community in 2015 and focused on the areas of interest where Sweden could help. The Deputy Secretary-General encouraged Sweden to further explore areas for cooperation in health, climate change and agriculture, connectivity, food, water and energy security.
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