The Sixth ASEAN Summit mandated the review of the overall organizational structure of ASEAN in order to further improve efficiency and effectiveness, taking into account the expansion of ASEAN activities, the enlargement of ASEAN membership, and the current regional situation. As part of this review, the Summit also decided to "review the role, functions and capacity of the ASEAN Secretariat to meet the increasing demands of ASEAN and to support the implementation of the Hanoi Plan of Action".

In pursuance of this mandate, the ASEAN Standing Committee established in September 1998 a Special Directors-General Working Group on the Review of the Role and Functions of the ASEAN Secretariat. To assist in the review process, the ASC commissioned PriceWaterhouseCoopers in November 1998. The ASEAN Directors-General considered the consultant's Final Report in April 1999.

While upholding the basic mandate of the Secretary-General of ASEAN as set out in the 1992 Protocol Amending the Agreement on the Establishment of the ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN Standing Committee agreed that the ASEAN Secretariat should function as a coordinating Secretariat to help facilitate effective decision-making within and amongst ASEAN bodies. The Secretariat would emphasize more on substantive matters, while its tasks on servicing the various meetings would be precisely defined.

The ASEAN Secretariat has now put in place a functional structure. One of the two Deputy Secretaries-General has assumed the role of chief-of-staff who shall be responsible for corporate affairs to ensure efficiency in the internal management of the ASEAN Secretariat. The other Deputy Secretary-General shall serve as chief operations officer who will support the Secretary-General in operations and policy matters.

Corporate affairs shall include the following areas: administration; finance and funding; human resources; public information; information technology; and special projects. The operational bureaus will include the Task Force for Financial Cooperation and Macroeconomic Surveillance; Economic and Functional Cooperation; Trade, Investment and Services; and Programme Coordination and External Relations.

The measures aimed at improving internal management of the ASEAN Secretariat include (a) the formulation of annual operating plans to provide a framework for determining the Secretariat's priorities and resource allocation decisions; (b) strengthening of corporate services, particularly in financial management, it services, and human resource development; (c) considerable increase in professional Locally-Recruited Staff to free senior officers' time from administrative and secretarial tasks, enabling greater focus on strategic and substantive matters.

The chart below reflects the current and new ASEAN Secretariat professional staff complement.