ASEAN, Canada mark 35 years of partnership

ASEAN and Canada celebrated the 35 th anniversary of their dialogue partnership at the ASEAN Secretariat Headquarters in Jakarta , Indonesia , on Jan. 20.

Friday, January 20, 2012 18:38

ASEAN and Canada celebrated the 35 th anniversary of their dialoguepartnership at the ASEAN Secretariat Headquarters in Jakarta ,Indonesia , on Jan. 20.

ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwanrecalled cooperation between the two sides during the past 35 years,saying they shared common concerns, including international terrorism,climate change, rescue and disaster mitigation, protection of the rightsof women and children, disarmament and cooperation in other areas.

Thetwo sides saw development in economic trade, investment, tourism andsocio-cultural cooperation. Canada is ASEAN’s 13 th largest tradingpartner, with two-way trade of 9.8 billion USD, and ranks ninth interms of investment in ASEAN with 1.6 billion USD.

CanadianAmbassador Mackenzie Clugston affirmed Canada ’s stance of supportfor an ASEAN of peace, security, stability, freedom, democracy anddevelopment.

Canada will continue its traditional friendship and cooperation with ASEAN, he said.

Onthis occasion, the two sides launched a three-year ASEAN-Canada studycooperation programme. The Canadian government-funded 1 million CADprogramme will study sustainable development, natural resourcemanagement and the impact of population and disease trends./.

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