Amb. A M Shahid (Former Diplomat):The 33rd Regional Forum of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has held fruitful discussions on regional and international issues in Manila. The topics of discussion might be related to issues pertaining to Asia Pacific. Actually, ASEAN is a very powerful regional bloc, that mainly focuses on promotion of inter- bloc trade and economic cooperation. At present, all Asian countries are concerned over the escalation, however, this forum may not be able to present some sort of solution to Mideast conflict. Even then, participants of the forum  may be discussing  ways to bring about normalcy in the region.