ASEAN Foreign Ministers today agreed to study the European Union’s experience on how it had worked to narrow the development gap among newer and older EU members, a press conference was told.
Speaking on the outcome of today’s meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC), Mr. Vitavas Srivihok, Director-General of Thailand’s ASEAN Affairs Department, said the 10 ASEAN Foreign Ministers were of the view that a study on the experience of the Union be conducted, so as to guide ASEAN on what they could do to reduce their own development gaps.
“The ACC also viewed that in addition to projects and programmes on capacity building and development in Member States, ASEAN should try to promote connectivity among its peoples. This could be achieved through improving infrastructure such as transportation linkages and developing new means of communications such as ASEAN television,” said Mr. Srivihok.
A study to identify areas which needed to be strengthened and invested in -- so-called ‘missing links’ -- would be conducted, Mr. Srivihok added.
The ACC is one of the new bodies set up when the ASEAN Charter came into force last December, with ASEAN Foreign Ministers comprising the membership. The Council is, among other things, tasked to coordinate the implementation of agreements and decisions of the ASEAN Summit.
Today’s meeting of the ACC also decided on the tentative date that Thailand, as ASEAN Chair, plans to host the 15th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Phuket, as 23-25 October this year. In this regard, the Meeting agreed in principle with Thailand’s suggestion that ‘empowering people for ASEAN Community’, be the main theme of the next Leaders’ gathering. Topics and activities to be discussed at the next Summits would include the strengthening of ASEAN cooperation on education, the promotion of connectivity among ASEAN peoples, and the launch of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. Also, the Meeting agreed that, as in the last Summit in April, a forum for dialogue between ASEAN Leaders and the representatives of ASEAN civil society organizations, the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Assembly and the ASEAN Business Council should be continued.
Another issue discussed by the ACC today, Mr. Srivihok said, was the strengthening of the ASEAN Foundation, particularly its funding. The Ministers agreed that more effort should be made to encourage voluntary contributions from ASEAN Member States, Dialogue Partners and the private sector to support the Foundation’s specific projects. To supervise the Foundation’s operations, the Foreign Ministers tasked their Permanent Representatives to ASEAN to sit on its Board of Trustees.
The Foundation is one of the mechanisms under the ASEAN Charter. Its main task includes the promotion of an ASEAN identity, people-to-people interaction, and close collaboration among the business sector, civil society, academia and other stakeholders in ASEAN.
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