ASEAN, Australia seek stronger cooperation

The ASEAN-Australia Summit was held in Hanoi on October 30 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung with the participation of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and ASEAN leaders.

This was the first ever summit to be held between ASEAN and Australia, after 35 years of establishment of the dialogue partnership and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Commemorative Summit on the occasion of 30 th anniversary of dialogue relations in 2004.

The meeting appreciated the fine outcome of cooperation and reaffirmed determination to further strengthen the dialogue partnership.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, as the Country Coordinator of the ASEAN-Australia dialogue Relations, shared with his counterparts the positive developments made for the past years.

The leaders noted with satisfaction the new and significant achievements in the ASEAN-Australia dialogue relations in various areas, in particular, the signing and implementation of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) and other important agreements, such as the Plan of Action to Implement the Comprehensive ASEAN-Australia Partnership (2008-2015).

The two sides were pleased with the substantive growth in two-way trade in goods and services, which exceeded US$76 billion in 2009, and looked forward to a higher volume to be attained through AANZFTA, which entered into force in January 2010.

ASEAN expressed appreciation for Australia’s support and assistance to ASEAN’s efforts toward community building, enhancing regional integration and narrowing development gap which was realized in various concrete programmes, especially the Australia Development Cooperation Program (AADCP) and the AANZFTA Economic Cooperation Support Programme.

ASEAN looked forward to Australia’s continued interest in promoting cooperation for development, supporting ASEAN’s regional integration and connectivity, as well as building capacity to effectively address global challenges.

ASEAN welcomed Australia’s consistent policy of long-time engagement with Asia, especially the strengthening of comprehensive cooperation with ASEAN. ASEAN also looked forward to Australia ’s continued support for the Association’s driving seat in regional fora and ASEAN’s centrality in the evolving regional architecture for peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

On the future direction, the two sides agreed to promote cooperation in such priority areas as trade-economic, education, tourism, culture and people-to-people exchange, in order to increase mutual understanding and closer bonds between two sides, while strengthening cooperation in addressing global challenges, particularly on climate change, environment, natural disasters and infectious diseases.

The leaders emphasised that the two sides should continue to maintain regular dialogue at different levels, including at the highest level, to create momentum for the development of the ASEAN-Australia relations to a more substantive and comprehensive level.

Australia supported ASEAN’s view on the emerging regional architecture, with ASEAN playing a central role.

ASEAN and Australia agreed to closer coordinate in regional dialogue and cooperation processes for peace and stability, including the East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, Asia-Europe Meeting and the G-20 Summit.

Australia also expressed its support for the participation of the ASEAN Chair on a regular basis.

In conclusion, the leaders issued a Joint Press Statement of the ASEAN-Australia Summit.