Kuala lumpur: The Fifth Conference on Cooperation among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEAPAD V) is set to occur in October during the ASEAN Summit, as confirmed by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the announcement follows the successful execution of CEAPAD IV, which coincided with the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and associated events, under Malaysia's 2025 ASEAN Chairmanship. The discussions during CEAPAD IV, co-chaired by Malaysia's Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Japan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya, and Palestine's Planning and International Cooperation Minister Dr Estephan Salameh, were centered on capacity-building, critical infrastructure redevelopment in Palestine, and providing comprehensive humanitarian assistance.
CEAPAD, a regional framework initiated by Japan in 2013, aims to support Palestinian state-building by leveraging the economic development experience and expertise of East Asian countries. Japan's MOFA emphasized that CEAPAD was launched prior to the current conflict in Gaza, and it is not a response to any geopolitical vacuum.
In a statement shared with Bernama, the ministry highlighted, "This initiative was initiated by the Japanese government in 2013, long before this Gaza tragedy. At the time, we believed that the two-state solution is quite important, and since ASEAN countries have developed successfully in terms of the economy, we can mobilise their expertise in Asian economic development to support the nation-building effort of the current new authorities."
The ministry clarified that CEAPAD is not designed to fill any supposed geopolitical void left by the US. "It started much earlier than the Gaza incident. But after the October 2023 Gaza strike, the Palestinian people are suffering from a humanitarian crisis and have a huge need for reconstruction and recovery," they added.
Japan's MOFA also expressed its intention to collaborate closely with ASEAN, particularly Malaysia as co-host, for the upcoming CEAPAD summit. "We are now trying to work together with ASEAN countries, especially Malaysia, who kindly accepted to co-host this semester's meeting. We are going to hold the summit meeting sometime in October at the margin of the ASEAN meeting, and we would like to mobilise your power, your knowledge, your expertise, in support of their reconstruction," said the ministry.
Japan reaffirmed its commitment to collaborating with ASEAN on both humanitarian and regional security matters. CEAPAD IV marked the first time the conference was hosted in Malaysia, with the previous session held in Bangkok in 2018. Current CEAPAD members include Japan, Palestine, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.