In receiving ambassador Homme, Secretary-General of ASEAN Dr. Surin Pitsuwan was quoted saying that “In this presentation of credentials, shows that Norway places great emphasis on ASEAN. We shall not take that for granted and we will work for our mutual benefit.”
Ambassador Homme, who is concurrently the Ambassador of Norway to Indonesia and Timor Leste, said that he was most honoured to become Norway's first Ambassador to ASEAN. “Norway fully supports the organisations' goal of building an ASEAN Community; an integrated, peaceful and prosperous community of Southeast Asian Nations, based on democracy and rule of law.”
ASEAN was formed in 1967 that consists today of 10 member countries in South East Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.