Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on what dates he or his predecessors met the Ambassadors to the UK of the ASEAN countries in the last five years.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) and his predecessor, the former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) have met ASEAN Ambassadors to the UK a number of times in the last five years. The full information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

In the last year, the Foreign Secretary met the Singapore High Commissioner on the 21 October during the State Visit by the President of Singapore. The former Foreign Secretary met the Indonesian Ambassador to the UK during his visit to Indonesia on 28-29 January 2014 and the Philippine Ambassador to the UK during his visit to the Philippines on 29-30 January 2014.

As the Minister responsible for our relations with Asia, I have held meetings in the past year with: the Philippine Ambassador on 10 December 2013; the Burmese Ambassador on 7 April 2014; the Bruneian High Commissioner and the Cambodian Ambassador on 14 July 2014; the Lao Ambassador on 5 August 2014; the Singapore High Commissioner on 9 October 2014; the Thai Charge D’Affaires on 13 October 2014; and the Vietnamese Ambassador on 12 November 2014. I have also met a number of the ASEAN Ambassadors at events througout the year and with visting delegations.

It is worth noting that, with the opening of the Lao Embassy in London on 6 November every ASEAN country is now represented in the UK, as is the UK in every ASEAN country.