On 19 May 2011, Mr. Kasit Piromya, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, briefed the diplomatic corps from 50 countries about the results of the 18th ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, gist as follows:
1. For ASEAN to enjoy continued success as a regional organization, Thailand proposed the “3Cs” strategy, namely credibility, centrality and connectivity.
2. In this regard, ASEAN has set goals (1) at the ASEAN level to achieve ASEAN Community (2) at the Regional level for the Regional Architecture with ASEAN as the centre and (3) at the Global level for ASEAN to have consensus in global issues in frameworks such as the UN and WTO.
3. At the ASEAN level, ASEAN will focus on (1) disaster relief with the involvement of the Utapao Airport and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) in Bangkok (2) connectivity with ASEAN Connectivity Master Plan (3) the establishment of Connectivity Plus which would explore connectivity beyond ASEAN, focusing on Northeast Asia, South Asia and other regions (4) the development of an ASEAN Business Travel Card in tandem with ASEAN Lanes in all major international airports throughout the region (5) resolving the issue of trafficking in persons (6) upholding good governance and transparency (7) respect for diversity and interfaith dialogue (8) the application of ASEAN to host the World Cup in 2030 and (9) cooperation in tertiary education. In this regard, ASEAN had together issued 3 statements, covering issues on the ASEAN Community, the consideration to establish the Peace Institute and Reconciliation, as well as on the cooperation of trafficking in persons.
4. At the Regional level, ASEAN will focus on the formula 5+2+X, whereby 5 refers to the priority areas in EAS cooperation, namely energy, finance, disaster management, education, as well as health and foreign policy; 2 refers to the connectivity and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA); X refers to the global challenges and security issues, which come in both traditional and non-traditional forms.
5. At the Global level, ASEAN will focus on having a consensus and common platform at the international level by 2022. There was the issuing of a Joint Statement on ASEAN Community in Global Community of Nations and Thailand proposed the culture of sharing information, coordination in key global challenges and assessment of global trends.
6. Thailand supports the membership of Timor-Leste into ASEAN and stands ready to comply with the ASEAN consensus regarding Myanmar’s assumption of the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2014. In this regard, both issues will be further discussed by ASEAN at the next opportunity.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th