Participants pose for a group photo (Photo: asean.org) Jakarta (VNA) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Kingdom reaffirmed commitmentsto strengthen mutual cooperation at their first Senior Officials’ Meeting(AUKSOM), the ASEAN Secretariat said in a statement.
Held on July 6 in London, it is the first officialengagement of the senior officials since ASEAN conferred the status of DialoguePartner on the UK at the 54th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on August 2, 2021.
At the event, both sides agreed to continue to foster theirexisting cooperation and explore new areas for future cooperation, includingcounter terrorism and violent-extremism; cybersecurity; transnational crime;maritime cooperation; digital integration; transition to clean energy; foodsecurity; sustainable infrastructure; environment and climate change.
Other areas of cooperation are people-to-people exchanges;connectivity, including the implementation of the Master Plan on ASEANConnectivity (MPAC); ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN); implementation of theIAI Work Plan IV (2021-2025); education and human resource development,especially technical and vocational education and training (TVET); and publichealth.
The meeting highlighted the sides’ close cooperation in respondingto the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic recovery phase, with the UK’scontribution of 1 million GBP to the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund highly appreciated.
Participants also underlined the need to continuecooperation for the regional post-pandemic recovery, including through theASEAN Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies (RRMS) for Public HealthEmergencies, the ASEAN Center for Public Health Emergencies and EmergingDiseases (ACPHEED), and the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework and itsImplementation Plan.
The meeting welcomed to the implementation of the ASEAN-UKJoint Ministerial Declaration on Future Economic Cooperation which providesguidance on the strengthening of ASEAN-UK engagements in the economic pillar.
The meeting took note of the progress of and ongoing work inthe negotiation of the Plan of Action (POA) to Implement the ASEAN-UK DialoguePartnership for 2022-2026 and looked forward to the adoption of the pact at theASEAN Post Ministerial Conference 10 1 Session with the UK, slated for August 4in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The senior officials also exchanged views on regionaleconomic developments and multilateral trading system, the importance ofmaintaining ASEAN’s centrality in the regional architecture, and the situationsin the East Sea and in Ukraine, among other matters./.
