Illustrative image The
festival has been held annually by the five ASEAN countries of Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. This year, the festival was
also jointly organised by the Institute for Asia Studies under the University
of British Columbia.
Opening
the event, Thailand’s General Consul Sutthiluck Sa-ngarmangkang reviewed the
50 years of ASEAN’s development from a five-member association to a community
with combined GDP of US$2.4 trillion and population of 629 million people.
She said
that ASEAN is rising to the sixth largest economy in the world and the third
in Asia as well as the third biggest market in the world.
ASEAN is
not only an important partner of Canada in the Asia-Pacific region, but also
it’s a dialogue partner with strengthened ties after 40 years, said
Sa-ngarmangkang.
Vietnamese
Consul General in Vancouver Pham Manh Hai said that the event helps connect
ASEAN cultures and ASEAN with Canada to foster friendship.
Canadian
Senator Yuen Pau Woo stated that Canada has paid great attention to
strengthening partnership with ASEAN. He expressed his hope that major
commemoration events in 2017 will be good opportunities for the two sides to
bolster their cooperation in various fields from economy and politics to
culture and social affairs.
Participants
enjoyed dances and food as well as handicraft products of the ASEAN countries
and improved their understanding of the nations’ diverse cultures.
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