Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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41. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the recent ASEM summit. [46733/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I attended the 12th ASEM Summit, or Asia - Europe Meeting, on the 18th and 19th of October in Brussels.

The focus of the recent Summit was on improving trade and connectivity between Europe and Asia, and on reinforcing the multilateral, rules-based system of governance on issues like international trade, peace and security, sustainable development and climate change.

As well as attending the plenary sessions, I held bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Solberg of Norway, President Battulga of Mongolia and the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Wan Azizah, focused on strengthening bilateral relations. I also raised Ireland's candidature for an elected seat on the UN Security Council for the term 2021-2022.

I engaged informally with a number of other leaders including Chinese Premier Li, Japanese Prime Minister Abe, Russian Prime Minister Medvedev, Vice President of India Naidu, and the foreign ministers or special envoys of Laos, Myanmar, Australia, Kazakhstan and New Zealand. These were primarily courtesy conversations about bilateral relations, though in several instances I raised Ireland's candidacy for the UN Security Council.