It's important that we reach out to new friends. For us, BRICS is also a platform for building new friendships. Now, we already have strong ties with other BRICS countries, but there are still many countries in the group, whether members or partner countries, with whom we want to enhance our cooperation in science, and BRICS is a platform for this.

BRICS is also important because it represents the voice of the Global South, and we really do need to make our voice heard these days, especially in shaping what we call the world order.

All of us recognise that we want to maintain a rules-based international order. Especially for many developing countries, it's crucial. But at the same time, we know that the rules-based international order needs to be adapted and adjusted to the changes that have taken place in the international system since the rules were made after World War II.

We know that after World War II, the so-called world space international order was more or less driven by many Western countries. But times have changed, circumstances have changed, and we see the rise of the Global South; we see a multipolar world.

We believe that we have to maintain the world order, but we have to address the international world order to reflect the changes that have taken place in the world since World War II. So that's very important. And also, we're not a member country, but we're taking full part in many of the activities and areas of cooperation under BRICS.

And this has provided BRICS with an opportunity for us to engage with new partners and to engage in many constructive areas of cooperation, trade, investment, and people-to-people ties.

So we found it tremendously important for us to participate in this meeting, and we're having the BRICS Summit coming up in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September. My Prime Minister will be there, and he hopes to meet with other world leaders coming for the BRICS Summit.

ASEAN has always been a pillar of peace and stability in Southeast Asia and also in the broader Asia-Pacific. What we need to do is to ensure that we maintain our centrality while promoting peace, progress and prosperity in the region and among the member countries.

These days, when we look at the world, there are many challenges that we face, and there are considerable uncertainties. For the ASEAN countries, our priority, what we need to do, is enhance our cooperation and our economic integration. This is our priority.

We need to do more in terms of economic integration because, if you look around the world, ASEAN is the second most successful regional organisation.

Our economy is growing very rapidly, and so there's a lot of potential for us to enhance opportunities within ASEAN through economic integration, and I'm sure that economic integration would also open up new opportunities for partners to trade and to invest more with us. Economic integration is important, but what is crucially important is that we maintain our centrality, our central role, and the peace and stability of the region.

We do that by way of what we call the ASEAN-led architecture, which consists of various meetings and various forums that ASEAN has initiated. First, there's the ASEAN Regional Forum, which is the biggest forum for security dialogue in the region.

We have the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus, which is a forum for defence cooperation not only among ASEAN countries but also with other countries as well. And then we have this premier forum for strategic discussion that we call the East Asia Summit.

This forum brings together leaders from all the countries of East Asia and beyond to discuss the key strategic issues of the day.

Within BRICS, there are 11 members. BRICS has another 10 partner countries. I think among these 21 countries, we can do a lot in terms of trade and investment, and much of this is already taking place.

We have these meetings, and I think the focus is on trade and investment. I'm sure that BRICS can play a very important role in maintaining the free flow of trade and investment. The group can also be a vehicle for all of us to engage and to look at economic opportunities.

But BRICS is also a forum whereby we can engage with the private sector as well, because when we talk about trade and investment and economic opportunities, the role of governments is very important, but ultimately, it's the private sector that must be the driving force.

These days, when we talk about trade and investment, at the heart of trade and investment is connectivity. Connectivity in terms of transport, roads and rail is very essential. And so, this trilateral highway project between Thailand, Myanmar, and India has been under discussion for almost two decades.

And the problem has been the situation inside Myanmar, which has prevented the completion of this trilateral highway. We're hoping that the situation in Myanmar will improve, and at the same time, we urge them to continue with the peace process, the process of dialogue with the opposition.

We're hoping that this project can be completed soon. And I'm sure once it's completed, it will be a major corridor for trade and also investment and people-to-people ties, because Southeast Asia is important.

It is a region enjoying high economic growth. This will bridge Southeast Asia with South Asia, especially with India. And everybody recognises that India is emerging as an economic powerhouse in the region.

So this trilateral highway is significant because we're sure that, once completed, this will boost trade between Thailand, Myanmar, and India but also help to boost trade and investment between Southeast Asia, India and South Asia.