Kalla, accompanied by his wife Mufidah Kalla and Deputy Foreign Minister A.M. Fachir, departed aboard the special presidential aircraft BBJ-2 from the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force base located in eastern Jakarta.
Following the opening ceremony of ASEM on Friday morning, the vice president is scheduled to deliver a three-minute address at a plenary session.
ASEM also marks the 20th anniversary since the Asia-Europe Meeting dialog process was initiated on March 1-2, 1996, in Bangkok, Thailand.
As an informal forum for dialog and cooperation, ASEM brings together 53 partners from across Europe and Asia.
Its key purpose is to offer a platform to foster political dialog, strengthen economic cooperation, and together tackle global challenges.
ASEM comprises 28 member states of the European Union along with Norway and Switzerland on the European side and the 10 ASEAN member countries.
Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Russia also joined the ASEM, along with two institutional partners: the European Union and the ASEAN Secretariat.
The EU members comprise Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
The ASEAN member nations are Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos.
On the sidelines of the summit in Mongolia, Kalla is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with several leaders, including the presidents of Cyprus and Myanmar as well as the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Estonia, and the Netherlands.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
