Manila, Philippines| September 5, 2017 – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as the chair for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) pillar, will be hosting the 23^rd Senior Officials Meeting for ASCC (SOCA) and 18^th ASCC Council Meeting on September 11-14, at Taal Vista, Tagaytay City, Philippines.

During the 22^nd SOCA and 17^th ASCC Council Meeting held last March 6-9, Ministers and Senior Officials discussed pertinent issues involving humanitarian development in the ASEAN region. The Meeting produced outcome documents that aimed to uplift the lives of the ASEAN citizens. Senior officials from the ten ASEAN Member States will reconvene to discuss the progress of the different outcome documents.

The 23rd SOCA meeting will discuss a total of 11 outcome documents. Two out of these outcome documents are for signing, seven outcome documents for adoption and two documents for notation by the ASEAN Leaders. On the other hand, the 18^th ASCC Council meeting will discuss the progress of other outcome documents namely ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Gender Responsive Implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and Sustainable Development Goals; ASEAN Declaration on Ending All Forms of Malnutrition; ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration of Commitment on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR); Combatting AMR through the One Health Approach; and ASEAN Declaration on the Adoption of the ASEAN Youth Development Index.

These documents are aligned with two of the six thematic priorities of ASEAN 2017 – a people-oriented, people-centered and resilient ASEAN.

The 23^rd SOCA and 18^th ASCC Council Meeting are expecting 120 attendees to further discuss the different efforts of the ten Member States in promoting the welfare and development of the people. ###