BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Brunei will host the first consular meeting next week on how ASEAN nationals obtain consular assistance from the missions of any ASEAN member state, particularly in countries where their own government does not have a diplomatic presence.
According to a local daily report Friday, immigration directors and consular affairs chiefs from Southeast Asia will gather in Bandar Seri Begawan on August 2 for the first meeting of the working group. Officials will begin drawing up a "standard operating procedure or guideline offering consular assistance to nationals of ASEAN member states in third countries".
The idea was first mooted in 2014 by Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah during the 24th ASEAN Summit in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, the report said.
This would allow the people to travel with the assurance that assistance can be provided, especially in countries where they have no representative, the Sultan said.
The ASEAN Secretariat should be given the appropriate support and resources to carry out this work, the monarch added.
