Asia-Pacific
ASEAN committed to build community by 2015
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-09 21:43
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HANOI - The 16th Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) Summit concluded here on Friday with a chairman's statement which shows strong commitments of all member countries to build a sustained ASEAN Community in 2015.
The statement came out after two-day discussions by ten ASEAN members, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The chairman's statement said the ten member countries agreed to effectively implement the existing ASEAN cooperation agreements to achieve sustained economic recovery and development for ASEAN and towards the ASEAN Community in the next five years.
To achieve a resilient, dynamic and sustained ASEAN Community, all parties agreed to give education cooperation as a priority in the process of community building.
ASEAN leaders noted the important progress in the implementation of the ASEAN Charter, serving as a legal and institutional framework for the ASEAN Community, stressing the importance of bringing the Charter into life at the earliest.
Under the joint statement, ASEAN leaders called on enhancement of the bloc's connectivity in Mekong and other sub-regions of ASEAN and promoting future East Asian connectivity.
To that aim, the bloc is exerting efforts in developing a Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity to be submitted to the 17th ASEAN Summit in October 2010.
All parties also showed strong commitment to intensifying efforts to address climate change and other transnational challenges by adopting the ASEAN Leaders' Statement on Joint Response to Climate Change.
The statement said that significant progress has been achieved in the implementation of the ASEAN Political-Security Community ( APSC) Blueprint, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint.
Under the APSC, ASEAN leaders stressed the enhancement of utilization of ASEAN's existing tools and mechanisms, especially the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty.
Regarding progress in AEC, the 16th ASEAN Summit saw commitment of members to promote the development of an integrated ASEAN capital market, the entry into force of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM), the proposed establishment of the Credit Guarantee Investment Facility and the Asian Bond Market Initiatives.
Under the ASCC, all parties showed efforts to promote rights of women and children by forming the ASEAN Commission on Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC).
The chairman's statement also said that narrowing development gap between member countries and strengthening ASEAN's external relations to accelerate ASEAN integration continue to be top priorities.
Regarding external relations, ASEAN is actively exchanging views with partners on holding the second summit between ASEAN and Russia, the third summit between ASEAN and the United Nations, and regular ASEAN plus One summits with four partners including China, Japan, South Korea and India, and the second ASEAN U.S. summit in 2010.
Finally, the statement expressed ASEAN's commitment to international and regional issues by working closely with the Group of 20 and others.
During the Summit, ASEAN leaders have adopted two statements: ASEAN Leaders' Statement on Sustained Recovery and Development and ASEAN Leaders' Statement on Joint Response to Climate Change.
