ASEAN SECRETARIAT
JAKARTA
INDONESIA
NEWS RELEASE
20 NOVEMBER 2002
ASEAN INTEGRATION SHOULD BE IN LINE WITH NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS, SAYS INDONESIAN MINISTER
JAKARTA (Nov 20) – The move towards ASEAN integration should tie in with the development goals and strategies of each member country, said Indonesia’s Minister of State for National Development Planning Dr. Kwik Kian Gie.
Dr. Kwik, who was speaking at the opening of a meeting of ASEAN Heads of Planning Agencies at the ASEAN Secretariat today, said national planning agencies of regional countries should formulate a systematic and consistent set of strategies that will further the common development objectives of Southeast Asian states and enable them to overcome shared challenges.
“Despite the rapidly developing institutional mechanisms within ASEAN, the cooperation in development planning involving the National Development Planning Agencies of Member Countries remains weak,” said Dr. Kwik.
“This is surprising given that almost all ASEAN countries produce their own Vision 2020. Even in our own Indonesian five-year plan, known as POPENAS, has little reference to the ASEAN Vision or the Hanoi Plan,” he added.
“Yet, many of the areas mentioned in the Hanoi Plan are precisely those that are crucial to member states’ own development plans such as macro and financial sector policies, trade in goods and services and investment in human resources and infrastructure.”
Dr Kwik said the Hanoi Plan of Action, launched in 1996 by the ASEAN leaders to promote economic integration, has several shortcomings in its concept and implementation as it identifies only the general objectives of ASEAN development.
“It fails to chart out a coherent set of activities that will link up other sectors of development such as infrastructure and education,” said Dr. Kwik.
“The plan is not conceptualized with reference to national development priorities of each country or other ASEAN activities. And more often than not, plans like this one are treated as just another political document, which sets an agenda, instead of translating the existing political agenda into real actions.”
Dr. Kwik said there is a need for greater cooperation and strategic planning among ASEAN countries to meet with competition.
“Once challenge facing many of us is the erosion of our traditional markets from intense competition from China and maybe India if it undertakes further economic reforms in the future,” said Dr. Kwik.
“Other challenges are in the areas of politics, social stability and security. Thus, we need to strengthen our cohesiveness and cooperation, to broaden the areas of our interaction and our institutions.”
The Indonesian minister urged national planning agencies in ASEAN to collaborate on joint development studies and in the preparation of strategic policy briefs for ASEAN leaders. He said cooperation in the formulation of a development framework for multi-sectoral implementation will benefit member countries.
ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino also advocated closer coordination among regional governments to realize economic integration and national development goals.
“ASEAN’s purposes cannot be effectively pursued unless they’re followed with national action,” said ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino to delegates at the meeting.
“The national planning process is vital to the success of ASEAN cooperation,” he stressed. “The effectiveness, the impact and the fulfillment of regional cooperation ought to be an important factor in national development planning.”
He said it is important that national development plans involve ASEAN cooperation on the environment, HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases, poverty reduction, labour and education.
“Regional cooperation is increasingly a factor in national development,” said Mr. Severino.
“Therefore national planning ought to take into account what is happening at the regional level so that regional economic integration and regional cooperation can help to advance national economic and social objectives. Indeed, national planning should help move regional integration and cooperation forward by helping and learning from one another.”
The Secretary-General said elements of the work plan to promote the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) which focuses on infrastructure, human resource development, information and communications technology and capacity-building for regional economic integration should be part of the national development plans of member countries particularly for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. He said the older ASEAN members can extend cooperation and assistance to these newer members in these areas.
Mr. Severino said ASEAN leaders have recognized that regional economic integration is the key to ASEAN’s competitiveness in trade and investments, but there is a need for advancement in these sectors.
“We’ve had some successes in the tariff-cutting exercise in the ASEAN Free Trade Area, but we need to make substantive progress in other elements of our integration like the abolishment of non-tariff barriers,” said Mr. Severino.
“The whole area of trade in services have not gone very far in terms of liberalization of product standards and the harmonization of customs procedures. The destination of the path to integration is not clear. What kind of regional economic integration are we aiming for?” he asked.
Mr. Severino said regional leaders are aware of the need to move regional economic integration to the next stage and have directed that a Roadmap for Integration of ASEAN (RIA) be worked out.
He said some of the ASEAN leaders have also proposed the establishment of an ASEAN Economic Community but the content and nature of this community have yet to be determined.
Mr. Severino said national planning agencies need to be involved in determining the future shape of regional economic integration. He said they should recommend measures to achieve this and also assess the impact of integration on the economy and society.
ENDS//
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Issued by:
GERALDINE GOH
Senior Officer
Public Information
ASEAN SECRETARIAT
Jakarta contact:
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