ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh and visiting Foreign Affairs Minister of The Netherlands Frans Timmermans exchanged views on possible aspects to further strengthen cooperation between ASEAN and the Netherlands as well as ASEAN with the European Union (EU), a statement of ASEAN Secretariat said here Friday.
During the meeting held at the ASEAN Secretariat on Thursday, the two leaders discussed a variety of issues including developments in ASEAN, especially Myanmar, the needs of ASEAN and future developments of ASEAN-the Netherlands relations.
Timmermans took the opportunity to congratulate Minh for assuming the role as the new ASEAN secretary-general for the period of 2013-2017.
He underlined the government of the Netherlands'strong commitment to further intensifying its cooperation with ASEAN in education, human rights, investment and science and technology sectors.
In response, Minh warmly welcomed Timmermans and his delegation to the ASEAN Secretariat and thanked the Netherlands for its assistance to the efforts in capacity building of the ASEAN Secretariat.
Minh said that ASEAN Secretariat looks forward to enhancing the relationship between ASEAN and the Netherland in addition to ASEAN and EU.