Developments in External Relations

ASEAN’s commitment to developing its external relations can be traced to 1976 when the ASEAN leaders expressed their readiness to develop fruitful relations and mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries. At the Second Summit in 1977, ASEAN leaders called for the further intensification and expansion of cooperation with other countries or groups of countries.

In its earlier stages, external relations centred on ASEAN’s major trading partners, the United States of America (US), Japan, the European Union, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the 1990s, the Republic of Korea, China, India and Russia became dialogue partners of ASEAN. UNDP is also an ASEAN dialogue partner.

ASEAN’s dialogue relations have promoted trade and investment, facilitated the transfer of technology and know-how, and improved the access of ASEAN products to the markets of the dialogue partners. They have also served as avenues for ASEAN to engage major players in discussions on regional and global issues and to secure development cooperation and technical assistance.

Apart from trade and investment, ASEAN economic cooperation with its dialogue partners extends to industrial development, transfer of technology, energy, communications, transport and tourism. Increasingly, mutual economic interest has resulted in development cooperation projects being designed to achieve economic objectives.

The dialogue partners acknowledge that economics is the driving force behind development and economic cooperation programmes. They recognize that the implementation of AFTA and AIA will liberalize the ASEAN economies further by accelerating tariff reductions and dismantling barriers to the flow of investments. They are keen to cooperate with ASEAN in the area of trade and investment facilitation with the aim of improving market access for goods and services and to create an attractive climate for investments and joint ventures. Since the private sector is the engine for economic growth, the dialogue partners also seek to enhance the role of the private sector in the cooperative endeavours so as to facilitate business networking, especially among small and medium-size enterprises.

The dialogue partners have recognized the importance of the ASEAN’s role in maintaining regional peace and security in the region. They acknowledge the central role of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in maintaining peace and stability in Asia Pacific. The ARF is seen as a forum that has contributed to the fostering of security dialogue and the building of trust among member countries, and with the major powers in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. In particular, they actively support the innovative two-track approach of the ARF, which offers opportunities for both formal and informal exchange of views on a wide range of issues. The dialogue partners also support ASEAN’s efforts to establish a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality in Southeast Asia (ZOPFAN), and welcome the coming into force of the Treaty on Southeast Asia Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) in March 1997.

The nature of development cooperation has also changed, with emphasis on partnership and shared thematic programming instead of project-specific financing. The main areas of development cooperation are science and technology, human resources development, the environment, social and cultural development, and narcotics control.

ASEAN has also embarked on fostering closer ties with regional and subregional groupings in response to ASEAN leaders’ call at the 1992 and 1995 ASEAN Summits to forge closer ties with these groups. Stronger links and action-oriented programmes are gradually being developed with the South Pacific Forum (SPF), the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the South African Development Cooperation (SADC), Mercado Comun Del Sur (MERCOSUR) and the Rio Group.

Second Informal ASEAN Summit

The ASEAN Heads of State/Government met their counterparts from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) at the 2nd Informal ASEAN Summit in Malaysia in December 1997. ASEAN and China issued a statement that forecast that evolution of ASEAN-China dialogue relations into the 21st century. The statement sets the stage for their greater cooperation in political, security and economic relations.

At the meeting with Japan, the leaders issued the Joint Statement on ASEAN-Japan Cooperation Towards the 21st Century. Three initiatives to enhance the relations were proposed. The first will focus on cooperation toward currency and financial stability and support for ASEAN economic structural reforms and stable and sustainable development. The second will involve closer dialogue between leaders of ASEAN and Japan and aims to enhance political and security dialogue as well as increase cultural exchanges. The third is concerned with the strengthening of cooperation to face global challenges through the launching of the Japan-ASEAN South-South Cooperation Programme.

The meeting between ASEAN and the Republic of Korea focused on the financial crisis in East Asia. The leaders expressed their interest in supporting a programme of economic policies and structural reforms to counter the recent economic instability in East Asia. They encouraged all parties concerned to work closely with the IMF, World Bank, ADB and other international bodies.

Consultations with dialogue partners

ASEAN also held consultations with India and Russia at the senior official level for the first time in February and June 1998 respectively. In April, ASEAN senior officials met with their Chinese counterparts for the fourth consecutive year. ASEAN and these dialogue partners have found their consultations very useful, especially in increasing mutual understanding of each other’s views and in building mutual confidence.

ASEAN dialogue meetings

The dialogue meetings continue to be an important channel through which ASEAN and its dialogue partners strengthen and diversify cooperation. These meetings set the pace and direction of the dialogue and enable the exchange of information and views on pertinent issues.

In 1998, ASEAN held dialogue meetings with India, the US and Japan.

At the 14th dialogue meeting in May 1998, ASEAN and the US agreed that in the age of global trade and economic interdependence, it is in the interest of all parties concerned to support and facilitate an early and strong recovery in ASEAN. In this connection, the US pledged to continue its active cooperation with ASEAN to enhance ASEAN’s capabilities for sustained growth. ASEAN highlighted the need to enhance development cooperation in the dialogue and encouraged the US to consider areas for regional cooperation, which could contribute to the realization of the ASEAN Vision 2020.

The 16th ASEAN-Japan Forum in June 1998 followed up on the decisions of the meeting between the ASEAN leaders and the Japanese Prime Minister at the 2nd ASEAN Informal Summit. At the Forum, ASEAN welcomed measures taken by Japan to address the economic difficulties in East Asia and expressed its expectation that Japan would continue to play a leadership role in the restoration of financial stability and economic growth in the region. Japan, on its part, reaffirmed its commitment to support ASEAN countries and to expedite the implementation of Japan’s economic support measures, and help bring about the early recovery of the affected ASEAN economies. ASEAN also welcomed Japan’s contribution of US$20 million to the ASEAN Foundation in the guise of the Solidarity Fund.

Development cooperation

Development cooperation has been an integral aspect of the dialogue relations and acts as the glue linking economic and functional cooperation. Development cooperation has assisted ASEAN member countries in gaining technology transfer, in the development of their economic and industrial infrastructures, and in human resource and social development.

Dialogue meetings continue to be an important avenue through which ASEAN and its dialogue partners strengthen and diversify cooperation

Several dialogue partners have been assisting ASEAN countries in dealing with the financial crisis, both at the bilateral and regional levels. The Republic of Korea has expressed its interest in supporting a programme of economic policies and structural reforms to counter the recent economic instability in East Asia. New Zealand had arranged a programme for heads of Thai government departments to draw on New Zealand’s experience in economic and public sector reform. Japan convened a meeting of Asian finance and central bank deputies to assist ASEAN to overcome the crisis. The EU pledged to assist East Asia at the Second Asia-Europe Meeting held in London in April 1998. These dialogue partners have called on the ASEAN countries to work closely with the IMF, World Bank, ADB and other international bodies to carry forward the initiatives under the Manila Framework.

Working group meetings were also held with Australia, India, Republic of Korea, Russia and Pakistan.

The Fourth Joint Planning Committee-Subcommittee Meeting of the ASEAN-Australia Economic Cooperation Programme (AAECP) was held in Canberra in October 1997. Among other issues, participants discussed the progress of projects under AAECP and the participation of Vietnam in the projects stream. ASEAN-Australia has six ongoing projects under the AAECP. The projects are concerned with the environment and resources management, wastewater treatment technology transfer, energy from biomass residues, and quality assurance for ASEAN fruits and electricity grid Interconnection.

Development cooperation has always been the main focus of relations between ASEAN and Canada. Two ongoing projects are the ASEAN-Canada Cooperative Programme on Marine Sciences Phase II and the ASEAN Women’s Support Programme: ASEAN Network for Women in Skills Training. The first project aims to promote socio-economic development based on the wide use of regional marine resources. The second seeks to increase the capacity of ASEAN institutions to plan and deliver programmes on gender issues, especially with a view to increasing women’s access to labour skills training in different areas of employment.

Cooperation between ASEAN and China began a brisk pace with the visit to China of an ASEAN delegation for one week in October 1997. Under the same exchange of visits, a Chinese delegation visited Malaysia, Indonesia and the ASEAN Secretariat in April 1998. Two projects on the ASEAN-China economic seminar and ASEAN-China information exchange are being developed for implementation soon.

ASEAN has 16 ongoing projects with the EU, which cover economic, and development cooperation. The environment and drugs are important sectors in which the EU has been assisting ASEAN. On the environment, an ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity (ARCBC) has been established in the Philippines through the signing of the ARCBC Financing Agreement between ASEAN and the EC in July 1997. The centre will help to intensify biodiversity conservation by developing frameworks for improving technical and institutional approaches for managing biodiversity conservation at the regional level.

Both ASEAN and the EU are committed to fighting illegal trafficking in narcotics and psychotropic substances, the laundering of financial proceeds of these activities and the diversion of trade in percusor chemicals. The EU has provided both technical and financial assistance in the areas of preventive drug education and training for drug-rehabilitation. Both ASEAN and the EU will embark on a new programme, the Development and Validation of Evaluation Instruments for Drug Abuse Preventive Education Programme, which will be launched once the financing arrangements have been signed.

Two other programmes, the Industrial Standards and Quality Assurance and Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, are also being negotiated. The ASEAN-EU Regional Cooperation on Standards, Quality and Conformity Assessment Programme will see the development of ASEAN regional quality structures and policies compatible to international standards and those of the EU. The success of the 1993 EU-ASEAN Patent and Trademarks Programme, in strengthening and modernizing intellectual property institutions in ASEAN, has prompted the ASEAN-EC Intellectual Property Rights Cooperation Programme, which is currently being negotiated. This programme will further upgrade ASEAN’s intellectual property system and bring it in line with EU practices and international standards. The priority areas will be patents and industrial designs, trademarks and copyrights.

ASEAN and the EU actively pursued private sector participation and promotion of linkages among small and medium industries. The ASEAN-EU Partenariat was held in Singapore in November 1997 and was followed by an ASEAN-EU Industrialist Roundtable in Jakarta in December 1997.

The ASEAN Secretariat has also benefited through the EU’s Institutional Development Programme. This programme seeks to enhance the competence of the Secretariat’s professional staff in regional policy-making and to develop its information-technology capabilities and networking with institutions in Europe.

The nature of development cooperation has also changed, with emphasis on partnership and shared thematic programming instead of project-specific financing

In ASEAN-India cooperation, the procedure for processing of project proposals has been simplified while the implementation of the current projects has been accelerated. In February 1998, the weeklong Taste of ASEAN food festival was held successfully in New Delhi. In May, an ASEAN delegation visited India to explore areas of economic cooperation with Indian officials. On 12 July 1998, an Indian delegation met its ASEAN counterparts in the ASEAN-India Tourism Workshop in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, to discuss ways and means of developing tourism cooperation.

The fifth meeting of the ASEAN-New Zealand Joint Management Committee (JMC) was held in Bandar Seri Begawan in November 1997. The participants discussed the progress of projects under ASEAN-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Programme (ANZECP), and exchanged views on the future strategy and focus of the programme activities, specifically in relation to the Trade and Investment Promotion Programme (TIPP). This will be discussed further at the forthcoming JMC Meeting in Wellington in October 1998, prior to the next ASEAN-New Zealand Dialogue Meeting.

Under the ASEAN-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Programme (ANZECP), ASEAN and New Zealand focused on Trade and Investment Programme (TIPP) and Science and Technology programmes.

The Trade and Investment Promotion Programme has opened linkages and promoted networking between ASEAN and New Zealand businesses. This programme also enhanced the market access for ASEAN exports to New Zealand and act as a link to increase the two-way trade between the two regions.

In the area of science and technology, ASEAN and New Zealand had agreed to undertake cooperation on the prevention of corrosion, research on the status of ASEAN biotechnology and services management. The programme will upgrade ASEAN’s competence in these areas.

The ASEAN-Republic of Korea Workshop on Development Cooperation held in Jakarta in September 1997 discussed the progress and reviewed the projects funded by the ASEAN-South Korea Special Cooperation Fund (SCF). The workshop devised streamlined procedures to expedite the project-approval process for pending proposals to be funded by the SCF. Under the ASEAN-Republic of Korea dialogue, the Philippines Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) has implemented a project on the experimentation test for tropical fruit exports of ASEAN countries to the Republic of Korea. A workshop to analyse the results of this project is to be held in mid-1998. Two additional projects are likely to be implemented this year––the Workshop on Microelectronics Technology and the 1998 Exchange Visit of ASEAN and Republic of Korea Officials.

The first ASEAN-Russia Senior Officials Meeting was held in Moscow in June 1998, formalizing the mechanism for dialogue on political and security issues. The ASEAN-Russia Business Council was established in Kuala Lumpur in April 1998, providing a forum for private sector of both sides.

Relations with Pakistan have strengthened with the inaugural meeting on the establishment of ASEAN-Pakistan sectoral dialogue relations in November 1997 and the setting up of the ASEAN-Pakistan Joint Sectoral Cooperation Committee (APJSCC) to coordinate the ASEAN-Pakistan sectoral dialogue. The APJSCC may form subcommittees or working groups to assist in pursuing and developing specific areas of cooperation.

ASEAN DIALOGUE MEETINGS July 1997 - June 1998

ASEAN - AUSTRALIA

ASEAN - CANADA

ASEAN - CHINA

ASEAN - EU

ASEAN - INDIA

ASEAN - JAPAN

ASEAN - KOREA

ASEAN - RUSSIA

ASEAN - NEW ZEALAND

ASEAN - PAKISTAN

ASEAN - US