ASEAN holds talks with dialogue partners
(KPL) A series of post ministerial conferences between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its 10 dialogue partners took place in Hanoi on July 22. Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs led a Lao delegation to take part at the said event.
The dialogue partners include China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, the EU, the US and Canada.
At these meetings, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers and their counterparts reviewed relationships in the past year and set forth ways and means to promote future cooperation.
The main agendas of the meetings included strengthening effective, substantive and comprehensive cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, from assistance to ASEAN in realising its community-building goal and promoting connectivity to addressing the emerging challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, epidemics and maritime security.
The meetings also discussed preparations for the important related summits to be held at the end of this year and exchanged views on strengthening regional cooperation, including the possibility of wider participation and deeper engagement of dialogue partners in the process of shaping the regional architecture.
The dialogue partners reaffirmed their support for ASEAN’s central role in the region and shared the bloc’s common vision of a future regional architecture that will be multi-level, mutually-supportive, and being built upon existing mechanisms.
ASEAN welcomed Russia and the US ’s expressed interest in engaging deeper with the evolving regional architecture, including the participation in the East Asia Summit (EAS) as members with appropriate arrangement and timing.
At the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with China , the two sides agreed to hasten the drafting of a new Plan of Action to implement the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity for the 2011-2015 period to be submitted to the 13 th ASEAN-China Summit for adoption.
The two sides will realise the initiatives for bilateral cooperation, including infrastructure, energy and ICT as well as the use of China-assisted funds namely the China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund worth 10 billion USD and the Credit Fund for Commercial Exchange of 15 billion USD.
They will continue enhancing cooperation for peace, stability and prosperity in the region, including cooperation within the framework of ASEAN+3, EAS, ARF and in implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).
They also agreed to recommend the commemoration of the 20 th anniversary of the ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations throughout the year of 2011.
At the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with Russia , the ministers welcomed good progress in implementing the ASEAN-Russia Comprehensive Programme of Action to promote cooperation for 2005-2015.
They discussed preparations for the 2 nd ASEAN-Russia Summit that will be held later this year, including recommendation for a draft statement, convening of the Russia-ASEAN Business Forum and the ASEAN-Russia Cultural Cooperation Agreement.
They also discussed and agreed on specific activities in preparation for the commemoration of the 15 th anniversary of ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Relations, including the holding of Days of Russian Culture in ASEAN member countries.
At the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with the US, to further implement the decisions of the first ASEAN-US Leaders’ Meeting in 2009 and prepare for the second meeting in 2010, the two sides agreed to finalise a Plan of Action to implement the ASEAN-US Partnership for the new period of 2011-2015 and strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual interest, particularly economic, trade and investment cooperation, science and technology, education as well as in addressing emerging challenges like epidemics, energy security, disaster management and climate change .
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