ASEAN senior officials reviewed draftstatements on sustainable development and climate change for the 16thASEAN Summit, which is to take place in Hanoi on April 8 and 9.
Tran Ngoc An, a spokesperson for the 16th ASEAN Summit, announced thisat a press briefing giving details on the results of preparatorymeetings for the ASEAN Summit in Hanoi on April 6.
These preparatory meetings include the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting(SOM), the ASEAN Senior Economic Officials’ Meeting (SEOM), and theASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (SOCA) Meeting.
Regarding the SEOM, Le Quang Lan, chief of Vietnam ’s ASEAN SEOMgroup said the officials have examined the process of implementing theBlueprint toward the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community as laidout in the master plan on building the ASEAN Community in 2015.
The examination aimed to re-evaluate ASEAN’s capacity in realizing itscommitments in the Blueprint, said Lan, who is also Deputy Head of theMinistry of Industry and Trade’s Multi-trade Policy Department.
“We realize that ASEAN’s implementation of the commitments to which ithas pledged has achieved positive outcomes. Specifically, more than 75percent of the number of adopted measures have been completed asplanned,” Lan noted.
He affirmed that agreements on investment and on commodities andservices are undergoing final review before coming into force withinthis year.
The participants at SEOM also debated ASEAN’s orientations in thecontext that the global economy is overcoming crisis and advancingtoward sustainable development.
They also touched upon ways to accelerate the implementation of FTAswith China, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India and theUS.
According to Ramon Vicente T. Kabigting, the Philippine AssistantSecretary of Trade and Industry on the issue of building the ASEANEconomic Community, narrowing the development gap between the group’smembers is considered an important component.
“Accordingly, we continue with the support programme the developedcountries have adopted for new member countries,” the Philippineofficial said.
At the SOCA meeting, delegates agreed on priorities during the yearVietnam holds the ASEAN Chair, such as responding to globalchallenges, developing human resources in service of economic recovery,boosting social welfare and advancement for women and children, andbolstering cultural cooperation to enhance public awareness in buildingthe ASEAN Community.
Nheun Chosetra, Head of the Gender Equality Department of the Women’sMinistry of Cambodia, said the building of the ASEAN cultural communitywill bring more benefits, not only in cultural exchange but also inother fields, for ASEAN people.
She expressed her hope that following the preparatory meetings, the goalof building the ASEAN cultural community will be realized.
The ASEAN Community, based on three pillars--politics-security, economy,and socio-culture--will come into being in 2015.
The ASEAN Political-Security Community aims to create a peaceful andsecure environment for the Southeast Asian region to develop throughboosting ASEAN’s political and security cooperation to a new height,assisted by the participation and contributions of outside partners.
The ASEAN Economic Community eyes the goal of creating a single marketand a uniform production establishment that will facilitate the freecirculation of goods, services, investment, and labour capital, to raisecompetitiveness and spur prosperity in the entire South East Asianregion so that it can attract more outside investment.
With the general aim of servicing and improving the quality of ASEANpeople’s life, the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community will concentrate onaddressing the issues related to social equality and justice, culturalidentities, environment, the impacts of globalization and thetechnological revolution./.
Tran Ngoc An, a spokesperson for the 16th ASEAN Summit, announced thisat a press briefing giving details on the results of preparatorymeetings for the ASEAN Summit in Hanoi on April 6.
These preparatory meetings include the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting(SOM), the ASEAN Senior Economic Officials’ Meeting (SEOM), and theASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (SOCA) Meeting.
Regarding the SEOM, Le Quang Lan, chief of Vietnam ’s ASEAN SEOMgroup said the officials have examined the process of implementing theBlueprint toward the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community as laidout in the master plan on building the ASEAN Community in 2015.
The examination aimed to re-evaluate ASEAN’s capacity in realizing itscommitments in the Blueprint, said Lan, who is also Deputy Head of theMinistry of Industry and Trade’s Multi-trade Policy Department.
“We realize that ASEAN’s implementation of the commitments to which ithas pledged has achieved positive outcomes. Specifically, more than 75percent of the number of adopted measures have been completed asplanned,” Lan noted.
He affirmed that agreements on investment and on commodities andservices are undergoing final review before coming into force withinthis year.
The participants at SEOM also debated ASEAN’s orientations in thecontext that the global economy is overcoming crisis and advancingtoward sustainable development.
They also touched upon ways to accelerate the implementation of FTAswith China, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India and theUS.
According to Ramon Vicente T. Kabigting, the Philippine AssistantSecretary of Trade and Industry on the issue of building the ASEANEconomic Community, narrowing the development gap between the group’smembers is considered an important component.
“Accordingly, we continue with the support programme the developedcountries have adopted for new member countries,” the Philippineofficial said.
At the SOCA meeting, delegates agreed on priorities during the yearVietnam holds the ASEAN Chair, such as responding to globalchallenges, developing human resources in service of economic recovery,boosting social welfare and advancement for women and children, andbolstering cultural cooperation to enhance public awareness in buildingthe ASEAN Community.
Nheun Chosetra, Head of the Gender Equality Department of the Women’sMinistry of Cambodia, said the building of the ASEAN cultural communitywill bring more benefits, not only in cultural exchange but also inother fields, for ASEAN people.
She expressed her hope that following the preparatory meetings, the goalof building the ASEAN cultural community will be realized.
The ASEAN Community, based on three pillars--politics-security, economy,and socio-culture--will come into being in 2015.
The ASEAN Political-Security Community aims to create a peaceful andsecure environment for the Southeast Asian region to develop throughboosting ASEAN’s political and security cooperation to a new height,assisted by the participation and contributions of outside partners.
The ASEAN Economic Community eyes the goal of creating a single marketand a uniform production establishment that will facilitate the freecirculation of goods, services, investment, and labour capital, to raisecompetitiveness and spur prosperity in the entire South East Asianregion so that it can attract more outside investment.
With the general aim of servicing and improving the quality of ASEANpeople’s life, the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community will concentrate onaddressing the issues related to social equality and justice, culturalidentities, environment, the impacts of globalization and thetechnological revolution./.
