Intergrated cohesive Asean
2009-10-25 08:06:08 - Asean Leaders a region of more than half the world's population prepares to pledge to overcome their differences,on way the formation of an integrated Asian community in wrap up day on an annual summit in Thailand on Sunday.
Asian leaders are happy with the outcome of the 15th Asean Summit as there has been considerable development of cooperation in various areas, Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said.Chairman of the Asean, and will attend the United States -Asean Summit to be held in Singapore next month,will co-chair the event with US President Barack Obamba.
Singpore Prime Minister Mr Lee said the grouping should work together on the East Asia Free Trade Area and the Comprehensive Economic partnership in East Asia. Asean needs to wok for a high-level task force to work on a masterplan to speed up ASEAN's connectivity by linking the region by air,land, sea and telecommunications. The masterplan should be ready by October next year in time for the 17th ASEAN Summit in Vietnam.
ASEAN's voice is heard in the international arena was also discussed during the ASEAN leaders retreat, and they have agreed that the ASEAN Chair and the Secretary-General of ASEAN should be invited to take part in future G20 summits.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the region should "have the aspiration that East Asia is going to lead the world."The 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is also set to restate its commitment to create its own political and economic community by 2015.
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marty M. Natalegawa said that leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) had set up a contact group to coordinate member-state positions before G20 meetings."Thanks to Indonesia's suggestion, we decided this morning that our finance ministers would routinely meet ahead of G20 meetings to ensure coordination," said Marty, who represented Indonesia during the closed meeting Saturday morning.
With Vietnam as the next chair of ASEAN, the contact group will comprise Indonesia, Vietnam and the ASEAN secretary-genera ASEAN leaders will meet their East Asian counterparts, as well as the leaders of India, New Zealand and Australia.Their talks are expected to focus on the role countries can play in maintaining the stability and security of the Asia Pacific region, as economies continue to recover from the global downturn.
East Asia has also this year agreed on a $120-billion fund—using its currency reserves—to help nations in financial distress without the need to borrow from the International Monetary Fund.
Australia, India, Japan, and South Korea are major farm producers.Freeing up the services sector, such as negotiating open-skies accords for the aviation sector, is another challenge, he said.Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the issue is "more about the modalities and the steps" by which economic integration can be achieved.He said during the summit that the fact that several East Asian nations had already signed free trade or economic partnership pacts with Asean was a "very strong foundation for an East Asia
community."
Author:
Naresh Sagar
e-mail
Web: www.nksagar.com
Asian leaders are happy with the outcome of the 15th Asean Summit as there has been considerable development of cooperation in various areas, Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said.Chairman of the Asean, and will attend the United States -Asean Summit to be held in Singapore next month,will co-chair the event with US President Barack Obamba.
Singpore Prime Minister Mr Lee said the grouping should work together on the East Asia Free Trade Area and the Comprehensive Economic partnership in East Asia. Asean needs to wok for a high-level task force to work on a masterplan to speed up ASEAN's connectivity by linking the region by air,land, sea and telecommunications. The masterplan should be ready by October next year in time for the 17th ASEAN Summit in Vietnam.
ASEAN's voice is heard in the international arena was also discussed during the ASEAN leaders retreat, and they have agreed that the ASEAN Chair and the Secretary-General of ASEAN should be invited to take part in future G20 summits.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the region should "have the aspiration that East Asia is going to lead the world."The 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is also set to restate its commitment to create its own political and economic community by 2015.
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marty M. Natalegawa said that leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) had set up a contact group to coordinate member-state positions before G20 meetings."Thanks to Indonesia's suggestion, we decided this morning that our finance ministers would routinely meet ahead of G20 meetings to ensure coordination," said Marty, who represented Indonesia during the closed meeting Saturday morning.
With Vietnam as the next chair of ASEAN, the contact group will comprise Indonesia, Vietnam and the ASEAN secretary-genera ASEAN leaders will meet their East Asian counterparts, as well as the leaders of India, New Zealand and Australia.Their talks are expected to focus on the role countries can play in maintaining the stability and security of the Asia Pacific region, as economies continue to recover from the global downturn.
East Asia has also this year agreed on a $120-billion fund—using its currency reserves—to help nations in financial distress without the need to borrow from the International Monetary Fund.
Australia, India, Japan, and South Korea are major farm producers.Freeing up the services sector, such as negotiating open-skies accords for the aviation sector, is another challenge, he said.Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the issue is "more about the modalities and the steps" by which economic integration can be achieved.He said during the summit that the fact that several East Asian nations had already signed free trade or economic partnership pacts with Asean was a "very strong foundation for an East Asia
community."
Author:
Naresh Sagar
Web: www.nksagar.com
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