Malaysia: World's foreign ministers link hands for ASEAN forum photo op

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took part in photo op with many of the world’s foreign ministers at the 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (48th AMM) in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday. The Russian diplomat was joined by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop among many others. Lavrov joined the photo op after holding talks with his New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. Foreign ministers of the ASEAN countries along with their dialogue partners such as China, Japan, United States, India and Russia are due to take part in the meeting. Malaysia is hosting the meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre alongside a number of meetings and conferences including the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC); the 16th ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers Meeting (16th APT FMM); the 5th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers Meeting (5th EAS FM) and the 22nd ASEAN Regional Forum (22nd ARF). Stretching from August 1 to 6, the events are part of the preparations for the 27th ASEAN Summit that is due to be held in Kuala Lumpur in November.