Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and First Lady Iriana welcomed the arrival of heads of state and government participating in the 43rd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta on Tuesday.The couple personally welcomed and greeted the delegates that started arriving at the Plenary Hall of the Jakarta Convention Center, the main venue for the summit, at around 9:35 a.m. (2:35 a.m. GMT). Prime Minister (PM) of Laos Sonexay Siphandone, Cambodian PM Hun Manet, Secretary-General of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Thailand Sarun Charoensuwan, President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong successively arrived at the venue. Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim, Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh, and Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Hassanal Bolkiah, accompanied by Prince Abdul Mateen, then joined the ASEAN delegates at the venue. Prime Minister of Timor-Leste Xanana Gusmao also attends the 43rd ASEAN Summit in the capacity of an observer. Indonesia, as the host of the summit and the 2023 chair of ASEAN, also invited President of Bangladesh Mohammed Shahabuddin, as Chairman of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), as well as Cook Islands PM Mark Brown, as Chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), to the summit.
Source: Antara News Agency