ASEAN Meets Plus Three

Ha Noi, 29 October 2010
by ASEAN Secretariat

The 17th ASEAN Summit continues today with the ASEAN Leaders' meeting their Dialogue Partner counterparts from Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), China and the three countries as the Plus Three grouping.

At the 13th ASEAN-Japan Summit, Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced that Japan is ready to help ASEAN implement the newly-adopted Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, details of which are summed up in the "Initial Plan for Cooperation on ASEAN Connectivity." In response, ASEAN Leaders proposed that Japan's support be hinged on economic corridors development and capacity building.

Adopted by the ASEAN Leaders on 28 October, the Master Plan is the Member States' response to the region's needs to have a well-connected ASEAN in the dimensions of physical, institution and people-to-people contact.

At the 13th ASEAN-Republic of Korea Summit, meanwhile, the Leaders of ASEAN and President Lee Myung-bak committed to elevate both sides' comprehensive cooperation to that of strategic partnership. In line with this commitment, a new five-year Plan of Action (2011-2015), which details steps to implement the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity, was agreed at the meeting.

The ASEAN Leaders, in addition, welcomed ROK's chairmanship of the forthcoming G-20 Summit in Seoul. They also thanked ROK for inviting the ASEAN Chair to attend the meeting next month and further supporting the ASEAN Chair's participation at G-20 Summits on a regular basis. Earlier, at the G-20 Toronto Summit held in Canada in June this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Viet Nam called for a closer policy cooperation mechanism between ASEAN and the G-20, where ASEAN can pro-actively participate as a guest in the G-20 policy-making process and accept, adapt and harmonise to the policies with those of ASEAN's.

At the 13th ASEAN-China Summit, the ASEAN Leaders and Premier Wen Jiabao agreed to a Joint Statement on Sustainable Development, with a view to sustaining economic growth and promoting trade and investment linkages, social development, poverty reduction and environmental protection. The Joint Statement substantiates the ASEAN Leaders' Statement on Sustained Recovery and Development which was adopted at the 16th ASEAN Summit in April this year.

The ASEAN Leaders also applauded China for the success of the 7th Shanghai World Expo held from May to October, and the 7th ASEAN-China Expo held in Nanning this month. ASEAN is a regular participant at both Expos, which a large number of visitors from all over the world.

Later in the day, the ASEAN Leaders met the three East Asian State Leaders at the ASEAN-Plus Three Summit, where they voiced their accord for the Luang Prabang Joint Declaration on ASEAN Plus Three Civil Service Cooperation, which stresses the need of promoting good governance; enhancing administrative effectiveness, efficiency through policy dialogue and capacity building activities in strengthening peace and security; and promoting prosperity and social well-being. The Declaration was adopted just before the ASEAN-Plus Three Summit took place, by the Heads of the ASEAN Conference on Civil Service Matters (ACCSM) Plus Three, during their meeting in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR.

The ASEAN-ROK Leaders, while on the topic of economy, in a statement issued following the meeting, said that "despite slow and fragile global recovery from the worst international financial crisis, the East Asian economies were among the first to rebound soundly and became one of the key drivers of the global economic recovery."

Also on the Leaders' agenda for the afternoon is the ASEAN-UN Summit, during which the Leaders will witness the launching of a publication titled "Striving Together: ASEAN and the UN", a publication that highlights areas of improvement within the development cooperation between ASEAN and the UN.