The ASEAN Foreign Ministers signed two agreements and a protocol at their Eighteenth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Kuala Lumpur in July 1985. The Agreement on the Recognition of Domestic Driving Licences in ASEAN Countries is expected to boost intra- ASEAN business and tourism, while the Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources will help provide a common framework for bettering the conservation and management of ASEAN flora and fauna. On the other hand, the Protocol to Amend the Agreement on the Establishment of the ASEAN Secretariat, which extends the tenure of the Secretary-General of the ASEAN Secretariat from two to three years, is part of the continuing exercise to strengthen the ASEAN Secretariat.
Another feature of the 18th AMM was the decision of the Foreign Ministers to implement the immediate programme of ASEAN Pacific Human Resources Development. As a result of this, senior officials of ASEAN and of the dialogue partners took steps to work out the modalities for the implementation of the programme based on the appropriate existing mechanism.
A Special Meeting of the Foreign Ministers in Bali in April 1986 recommended to respective governments the convening of a Summit of ASEAN Heads of Government to be held in Manila in July 1997. A new page in ASEAN - EC cooperation was written with the holding of the First ASEAN - EC Ministerial Meeting on Economic Matters (AEEMM) in Bangkok in October 1985. In addition, ASEAN cooperation was further enhanced following meetings of ASEAN ministers in the areas of agriculture, and science and technology, while the Meeting of ASEAN Ministers of Law/Justice and Attorneys-General provided direction for cooperation in the legal field.
ASEAN also intensified its efforts against drug abuse following the endorsement by the Foreign Ministers of a draft Resolution on an International Strategy for Combatting Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which was tabled at the 40th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and which clearly identified ASEAN with the international campaign against drug abuse.
ASEAN economic cooperation, in general, showed progress. However, intra-ASEAN trade experienced a slow down. The ASEAN Committee on Trade and Tourism (COTT) explored various approaches to facilitate trade liberalisation among member countries. The ASEAN Preferential Tariff Quota Scheme has been identified as one such new approach to be established under the ASEAN Preferential Trading Arrangement (PTA). ASEAN also undertook steps to continue making deeper tariff cuts on PTA items.
ASEAN industrial cooperation also met with some positive results. Among the ASEAN Industrial Projects (AlPs) the ASEAN Urea Project in Aceh, Indonesia, produced by the end of May 1986, 52,804 metric tons for domestic Indonesian requirements, with market support in the Philippines and Thailand. The ASEAN Urea Project in Bintulu, Malaysia, commenced production. By the end of May 1986, 125,994 metric tons of ammonia, and 174,367 metric tons of fertilizer, had been produced with market support from the Philippines. Part of this product was exported to such non-ASEAN markets as India.
In comparison with ASEAN economic co- operation, the Association registered greater strides in the other sectors of intra-ASEAN endeavours, particularly in regional scientific and technological development which was greatly benefitted by the First ASEAN Science and Technology Week held in Kuala Lumpur in April 1986.
In the area of social development, various co- operative programmes were launched with broad based participation from ASEAN member countries. These programmes included youth activities, the ASEAN Women's Programme, as well as projects in education, health and nutrition, and population.
The Committee on Culture and Information (COCI) underwent a process of restructuring to improve the mechanisms for project planning and implementation. Four working groups were established to streamline cooperation in the areas of Visual and Performing Arts, Literary and ASEAN Studies, Radio/TV (Electronic Media) and Films/ Video, and Print and Interpersonal Media. To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN Secretariat, the Foreign Minister of Indonesia officially installed a bronze sculpture symbolizing ASEAN unity on the grounds of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.
In accordance with the agreement reached at the I 7th AMM held in Jakarta in July 1984, ASEAN implemented during the past. year the rotation of the country coordinatorships for ASEAN's dialogue partners.
ASEAN's dialogue meetings with Australia in February 1986, with Canada in October 1985, with the EC in March 1986, with New Zealand in December 1985, and with the United States in May 1986, contributed towards improving mutual understanding, and gave ASEAN and these dialogue partners the opportunity to assess the current state of their relations. Activities under the ASEAN - Australia Economic Cooperation Programme (AAECP), where total project funding has risen above A$ 100 million, have continued to grow. ASEAN and Australia also agreed to conduct a joint AAECP review. In the Dialogue with Canada, ASEAN and Canada commenced implementation of projects in marine science, and started operating in the ASEAN Forest Management Institute.
ASEAN and the EC agreed on future directions in dialogue relations at the AEEMM, particularly with respect to such new areas of cooperation as tourism, energy, drugs and civil aviation, and as regards on-going cooperation in human resources development training and culture. The creation of the ASEAN - EC High Level Working Party on Investments is expected to give greater impetus to the flow of European investments into the ASEAN region. In the Dialogue with Japan, cooperation progressed in the field of culture, youth, and human resources development. ASEAN reiterated its concerns on trade, industrial cooperation, and technology transfer which are to be addressed at the forthcoming Eighth ASEAN - Japan Forum to be held in Tokyo in July 1986.
In the ASEAN - New Zealand Dialogue, the two sides reached satisfactory agreement on the reinclusion of the products of two ASEAN member countries at developing country rates in the New Zealand GSP scheme. ASEAN's relations with the United States, for their part, were strengthened following the meetings between ASEAN Foreign Ministers, on one hand, and President Ronald Reagan and Secretary of State George Shultz, on the other, held in Bali in May 1986. These meetings gave valuable momentum to ASEAN - US consultations on bilateral and international trade issues of considerable concern to ASEAN, While the year under review witnessed some advances in intra-ASEAN economic cooperation, the steps taken to work out new approaches to promote it, such as the ASEAN Preferential Tariff Quota Scheme,, were encouraging developments promising even greater headway in this area. In the Dialogue, there was significant development, most particularly in science and technology, agriculture and drug abuse prevention, although trade and investment cooperation still fell short of ASEAN expectations.
On the problem of Kampuchea, ASEAN's efforts to galvanize support for the withdrawal of foreign forces in Kampuchea resulted in over- whelming international support at the United Nations in November 1985 for its resolution seeking such a withdrawal and the restoration of the right to self-determination of the Kampuchean people. In addition to the efforts in the United Nations, ASEAN had continued its efforts to help find a political solution to the Kampuchean, problem. The Special Meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers at Bali issued a statement on 28 April 1986 announcing ASEAN's support for the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea's Eight-point peace plan. In their statement, the Ministers described the Eight-point proposal as constituting all the ingredients for a constructive framework for negotiations. They urged international support for the proposal and called on Vietnam to respond positively. The Ministers appreciate the role of Indonesia as interlocutor of ASEAN in probing Vietnam's position on the Kampuchean problem and request Indonesia to continue with its role.
ASEAN has not lost track of the humanitarian problem which has resulted in thousands of Kampucheans fleeing the country since Vietnam's military invasion and occupation of Kampuchea. ASEAN had unyieldingly supported the right of the Kampuchean people in their just resolve to be the rightful masters of their own destiny in their own country.