Foreign ministerial-level meetings in preparation for the 27th ASEAN Summit and related meetings took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 20. 

The European Union will step up checks on its citizens traveling abroad, tighten gun control and collect more data on airline passengers, ministers agreed on November 20 in response to the Paris attacks a week ago.

A helicopter with seven people on board has crashed at Fox Glacier, a popular New Zealand tourism destination, the country’s search and rescue agency said on November 20.

Islamist militants killed 19 people in an attack on a top hotel in the capital of Mali on November 20 before Malian commandos stormed the building and rescued 170 people, many of them foreigners.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on November 20 said after the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), economies in the bloc would grow at an estimated average pace of 5.6 through 2019.

The ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN member states all have confirmed that preparations for the establishment of the ASEAN Community have been basically completed.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law and Security Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has met with US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Blake in Jakarta to discuss security in the East Sea.

ASEAN foreign ministers gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on November 20 for the 13th ASEAN Political –Security Community Council (APSC) Meeting.

Asia-Pacific leaders on November 19 condemned the terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut and against the Russian aircraft over Sinai, Egypt, and called for increased regional counter-terrorism efforts. 

The Myanmar Government announced on November 20 the formation of a union-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JCMC) to implement the Nationwide Ceasefire Accord (NCA) signed by the government and eight ethnic armed groups.