Every Monday The Diplomat's Zachary Keck takes a look at the latest happenings in the Asia-Pacific region. From important meetings of heads of state, to critical trade and business gatherings to matters of culture and art, The Diplomat keeps you up to date on the latest events.
Here is this week's primer. See an event we missed or something for next week? Please post a comment below!
May 12-18: U.S. delegation led by Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies will travel to the Republic of Korea (ROK), China, and Japan to discuss North Korean policy. In Seoul through the 15th, the delegation will meet with Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lim Sung-nam and Vice Minister of Unification Kim Nam Sik. On the 15th-16th the delegation will be in Beijing to meet with Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs Wu Dawei. The delegation will end the trip in Tokyo where they will meet with Director General for Asian and Oceanic Affairs Shinsuke Sugiyama and Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobukatsu Kanehara.
May 12-15: Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is in Moscow at the invitation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
May 13: Philippines holds legislative elections. Presidential elections are not until 2016.
May 13: British PM David Cameron will travel to the U.S. to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House.
May 13: Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi will travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to attend a ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Mali.
May 13-15: The U.S. and South Korea will conduct naval exercises involving the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and AEGIS-guided destroyers that will focus on missile detection and anti-submarine maneuvers.
May 13-16: Pyongyang’s Spring International Trade Fair with be held with companies Germany, Malaysia, Mongolia, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, Italy, Indonesia, China, Poland and Taiwan attending, North Korea Tech reported, citing state media.
May 13-17: Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will be visiting the U.S. She will meet with Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Friday.
May 13-June 14: The UN Human Rights Council meeting is held.
May 13-June 28: The UN Council on Disarmament its second annual session.
May 13-June 14: The UN Human Rights Council meeting is held.
May 14: India to release trade data.
May 14-15: 169th NATO Chiefs of Defense meeting will be held in Brussels. Afghanistan is expected to be main focus of the meeting.
May 15: The Arctic Council will hold its Ministerial Meeting where the chairmanship will be passed on from Sweden to Canada who will hold it through 2015. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be in attendance.
May 15: Malaysian to release GDP numbers.
May 15: Secretary of Iran Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton will hold a meeting in Istanbul. The EU has billed the meeting as a “follow-up to the last round of [P5+1] negotiations held in Almaty.” Over the weekend Jalili signed up to run in Iran’s Presidential election next month. Separately Iranian officials will meet with their counterparts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.
May 15: The U.S. House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees hold hearing with Executive Branch officials on policy towards Iran.
May 15-16: The 9th Annual China Nuclear Energy Congress will be held in Beijing. The Congress is an annual event which assembles leaders from all stakeholder groups across the region to discuss matters relating to nuclear energy. The event is organized by the China Decision Makers Consultancy (CDMC).
May 15-19: Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will lead a delegation of around 50 business leaders and privatization officials on a trip to China. He will meet with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on the trip.
May 15-24: The 17th round of TPP negotiations will be held in Peru
May 15-26: The Cannes International Film Festival is held. Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s new film, “A Touch of Sin” will compete as will films by two Hong Kong directors.
May 16: The U.S. House Foreign Relation Committee’s Subcommittee on the Asia-Pacific holds a hearing on U.S. Foreign Assistance Priorities in East Asia and the Pacific.
May 16: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be given a state visit at the White House where he will meet with President Barack Obama. The two leaders will discuss issues relating to Syria, trade and economic cooperation, and countering terrorism.
May 16: The UN Security Council will hold talks on the sanctions regime against North Korea.
May 16-17: ASEAN-EU Senior Officials Meeting (AEU SOM) will be held in Vietnam.
May 18-19: China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who ranks above China’s foreign ministry in Chinese foreign policy making, will visit Nepal.
May 19-20: The second Asia-Pacific Water Summit will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The summit, which is organized by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), has made “Water Security and Water-related Disaster Challenges: Leadership and Commitment” its theme. The first summit was held in Japan in 2007. The Thai Prime Minister has invited heads of state from over 49 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Among those attending will be Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu Carcasses Kalosil.
Unspecified: Israeli PM Netanyahu is expected to travel to Russia to discuss arm sales to Syria with President Vladimir Putin.
Unspecified: Qatar’s Foreign and Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, will travel to Iran this week at the invitation of Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.