Foreign minister back from Fourth FEALAC Foreign Ministers Meeting
(KPL) Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs arrived here recently from the fourth Foreign 
Ministers Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) wrapped up in Tokyo , Japan , on 17 January after adopting a Tokyo Declaration.
The declaration calls for strengthened activities and interactive relations through FEALAC frameworks to tap the great potential of the cooperation between the two regions and together cope with challenges they are facing at present and in the future.
It also calls for continued international efforts to help earthquake victims in Haiti and help the country overcome the consequences of the natural disaster, which hit the Caribbean nation on January 12.
The two-day FEALAC FMM, which were attended by foreign ministers and senior officials from 34 member countries, including 16 from East Asia and 18 from Latin-America, approved reports and made decisions on the Forum’s activities in accordance with proposals at the 9th and 10th Senior Officials Meetings in Argentina in April 2009 and in Japan on January 14-15, 2010.
The meeting elected Indonesia and Argentina as regional coordinators until the fifth FEALAC Foreign Ministers Meeting scheduled for late 2011.
Initiated by former Prime Minister of Singapore Gho Chok Tong in 1998, FEALAC held its first Senior Officials’ Meeting in Singapore in 1999 and first Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Chile in 2001 which adopted the forum’s basic framework.
There are Foreign Ministerial Meeting, Senior Officials’ Meeting and 3 working groups under FEALAC, with the Foreign Ministerial Meeting as the highest division. FEALAC is composed of 33 countries, including 15 in Asia and 18 in Latin America.
Major members are China, Japan, ASEAN countries, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela. Mongolia joined FEALAC as a new member at the fourth Foreign Ministerial Meeting.
