PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Gala Dinner of the 33rd ASEAN Summits and Related Summits

Your Majesty, Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Gala Dinner.

I hope you are looking forward to tonight’s dinner as much as I am. We have had a long day. In fact, it has been quite a long year.

We have been busy with a series of meetings and dialogues during the last twelve months, to map out and launch significant deliverables that will strengthen our ASEAN Community and tangibly benefit our peoples. Looking at the list of items, some of which I have mentioned in my speech at the opening ceremony yesterday, I think we have once again outdone ourselves.

This would not have been possible without the collective commitment and the efforts of our ASEAN colleagues and partners. Therefore, tonight we deserve to let our hair down just a little, and to celebrate. To celebrate the fruits of our labour, to celebrate our strong and enduring friendship, to celebrate how far ASEAN has come and our future ahead.

Tonight is a gathering of family members and close friends. Amongst the ASEAN leaders, we have met one another at various ASEAN-related summits and events, no less than six times, this year. Our officials must have lost count of the number of meetings they have held.

Through the course of these meetings, we have become familiar with one another, and we have built an ASEAN spirit that is especially palpable when we see each other at international fora. We have also forged lasting friendships and memories with our external partners. I am glad to have all of you here with us this evening. 

I hope that each one of us will bring back something memorable after this year’s Chairmanship. Be it the sense of satisfaction knowing that the deliverables we launched will improve our peoples’ lives, or the joy you see on the faces of our youths when they participated in “Hyperplay”, our first ever ASEAN eSports and music festival. 

The marvellous showcase of our rich and diverse cultures have enriched our heritage. Or perhaps, you will miss Singapore food, after all the meetings which you have had here. Therefore, tonight, we are serving you Singapore-inspired cuisine, like ‘yu sheng’, laksa and kueh pie tee, and we have jazzed it up a little since most of you are probably already quite familiar with our local food.

Regardless of what you will remember of this year’s Chairmanship, I believe a common thread of our collective memories is our people. At its core, ASEAN is about our peoples. We are a family of 630 million individuals. Each with a unique set of talents, skills, language, cultural and religious background.

In ASEAN, we have embraced this diversity as our strength. Our friendships are forged based on mutual understanding and respect. This is how ASEAN has stood the test of time as we strengthen our Community and build partnerships and friendships across the world. 

We have laid the groundwork for a more united, resilient and innovative ASEAN, not just for ourselves but for future generations. I hope that we will also pass on to the youths - this spirit of camaraderie and unity that we have cultivated over the last half century, so that they will forge an even brighter future for ASEAN together.

Once again, thank you for your support for our Chairmanship and have a wonderful evening tonight.

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