ASEAN continued to expand its cooperative ties with other countries and regional organizations. The meeting between ASEAN and Indian Senior Officials on the establishment of the ASEAN-India Sectoral Dialogue was held in New Delhi on 16-17 March 1993. Discussions on ASEAN-People's Republic of China (PRC) consultative relationship have been initiated.
Several regional organisations have expressed interest to establish relations with ASEAN. These include the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Rio Group, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO). ASEAN is currently studying the various proposals from these regional organisations.
Rapid global changes and the growing interdependence of the world economy has made responsive action toward the resolution of international economic issues more compelling. During the Dialogue meetings, ASE continued to press for an early conclusion of the Uruguay Round and put forward the expectation that its outcome would be balanced and beneficial to all participants. ASEAN also continued to engage its Dialogue Partners in an exchange of views on AFTA and other regional trading arrangements such as the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and the Single European Market. ASEAN requested the support of its Dialogue Partners for the CEPT Scheme in General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Development cooperation between ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners continued to be developed on the basis of mutuality of interest shifing away from the traditional donor-recipient relationship. ASEAN became increasingly involved in the participation, design, implementation and review of development cooperation projects. The period under review saw a number of Dialogue Partners redefining or shifting their priorities towards cross-sectoral areas, technology transfer mechanisms and the environment. In a number of programmes, development cooperation has become inextricably linked with commercial and industrial cooperation which are being shaped increasingly in partnership with the private sector.
ASEAN Member Countries continued to participate and coordinate their positions in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process. The Fourth APEC Ministerial Meeting was held in Bangkok on 10-11 September 1992. In keeping with APEC's fundamental objective of sustaining growth and dynamism of the Asia-Pacific region, and recognising the critical importance of the Uruguay Round in this regard, APEC Ministers issued an APEC Statement on the Uruguay Round to add urgency and impart greater momentum to the early and successful conclusion of the Round. In addition, the APEC Ministers also issued the Bangkok Declaration on APEC Institutional Arrangements setting up an APEC Secretariat as a permanent support mechanism and a central APEC Fund to finance the implementation of APEC activities. In recognition of ASEAN's role as the core of APEC, it was agreed that the APEC Secretariat be based in Singapore.
ASEAN-Australia
The 15th Meeting of the ASEAN-Australia Forum was held in Bangkok on 19-20 January 1993. For the first time, the ASEAN-Australia Forum discussed regional political and security matters.
The Mid-Term Review of ASEAN-Australia Economic Cooperation Programme (AAECP) Phase 11 was completed. The recommendations of the Report will be used as the basis for improving the Programme in the two remaining years of the current Phase H. Moreover, a third phase of the AAECP was approved to which the Australian Government will commit A$ 32 million over four years. This new phase, commencing in July 1994, is expected to provide over opportunity for scientific and technical co-operation between ASEAN and Australia, human resource development, and promotion of trade and investment links. Under the new phase, private sector firms in both SEAN and Australia will be encouraged to participate. Areas of cooperation such as energy, telecommunications and information technology, biotechnology, environment, transport and agro-based industries have been identified as potential areas of cooperation.
ASEAN-Canada
The 8th Meeting of the ASEAN-Canada Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) was held in Jakarta on 6-8 April 1993. In that meeting, the draft Successor Framework Agreement on ASEAN-Canada Economic Cooperation was finalized. The draft Successor Agreement intends to bring ASEAN and Canada into a new era of partnership based on mutuality of interests and the recognition of the important role that the private sector has to play in promoting ASEAN-Canada cooperation. The Successor Agreement, which replaces the expired 1981 Agreement will be signed at the Post-Ministerial Conference in July 1993.
ASEAN and Canada a reed on close consultations with regard to the operationalization of the regional policy framework for development cooperation. It is the first time that Canada is developing such a framework which will define more strategic approaches to development cooperation in the region. Canada identified new priority areas for cooperation as follows: 1) economic cooperation; 2) policy development and support; 3) environment; and 4) governance and administrative reform.
ASEAN-European Community
The 10th ASEAN-EC Ministerial Meeting was held in Manila on 29-30 October 1992. The Ministerial Meeting held the view that the end of the Cold War presented unprecedented opportunities for enhanced cooperation between developed and developing nations. They called for renewed international cooperation to address the multifarious concerns of developing nations such as the eradication of poverty, debt relief, access to markets, transfer of technology and environmental protection.
The meeting underscored the importance of the Fourth ASEAN Summit decisions, in particular the decision to establish AFT'A, which would contribute to the strengthening of the open multilateral trading system and would further expand trade and investment flows between the two regions. In this respect, ASEAN welcomed the offer of the EC to share the latter's experiences from the European economic integration process.
ASEAN-Japan
The 13th ASEAN-Japan Forum was held in Tokyo on 16-17 February 1993. The ASEAN-Japan Forum marked a point of departure from previous Forum meetings when it was elevated to the Senior Officials level from both sides and included political and security matters on the agenda for the first time. ASEAN and Japan shared a common concern to maintain peace and stability for the continuing economic progress of the countries in the region.
ASEAN and Japan discussed a number of specific items, among them, ASEAN's market access requests, investment cooperation, commodities, and financial cooperation. Japan suggested ways of improving ASEAN's investment environment and explained its efforts to extend cooperation in the field of commodities within the context of the Uruguay Round.
Specifically on cultural cooperation, Japan announced the extension of the Scholarship Fund Programme for another five years beginning 1991 and commited a total contribution of US$10 million to the Programme.
ASEAN-New Zealand
The 11th Meeting of the ASEAN-New Zealand Dialogue was held in Langkawi, Malaysia, on 16-17 June 1992. The meeting reaffirmed the need to take concrete steps to boost investment cooperation through the implementation of various projects under the Trade and Investment Promotion Package (TIPP) which has been designed to develop sustainable commercial links and increase the awareness of the economic opportunities existing in each of the respective markets. The meeting also agreed to explore the possibility of establishing an ASEAN Trade and Investment Centre in New Zealand.
On development cooperation, the meeting decided to establish a Joint Management Committee (JMC) to plan, monitor and review the whole spectrum of ASEAN-New Zealand relations. In this regard, a Memorandum of Ageement/ Exchange of Letters will be concluded between ASEAN and New Zealand to establish the JMC.
ASEAN-Republic of Korea
The First Meeting of ASEAN-Republic of Korea (ROK) Dialogue was held in Kuching, Sarawak on 11 - 13 May 1993. ASEAN and ROK held the view that trade would continue to be the main thrust of their relations. ROK welcomed ASEAN's proposal to establish an ASEAN Promotion Centre in Seoul. In the Dialogue Meeting, ASEAN and ROK also agreed to continue to undertake cooperative efforts in creating a more open world trading system on commodities and processed products and towards stabilizing prices and promoting down- stream processing.
ROK increased its financial support to the ASEAN-ROK Special Cooperation Fund from US$6.0 million to US$8.0 million for the period 1990-1994. This implied an increase in ROK's annual contribution from US$ 1.0 million to US$2.0 million beginning 1992.
ASEAN-UNDP
The year under review has been a vital period for ASEAN-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) cooperation. Two major UNDP-supported projects for ASEAN, namely the (a) Strengthening of the ASEAN Secretariat and (b) the Establishment of Programmes and Projects Management System are underway. These are expected to be completed by December 1993.
The recommendations of the first UNDP project under the cover of the report entitled "Strengthening the Structure and Mechanism of ASEAN with Special Reference to the ASEAN Secretariat", contributed to the Fourth Summit decision to restructure the ASEAN Secretariat, the process of which has been implemented since 1 January 1993. All the new and openly-recruited professional staff have now been recruited following a newly-structured ASEAN Secretariat. The second project has submitted its recommendations on the establishment of the ASEAN Cooperation Unit (ACU), Programme/Project Appraisal Guidelines and a Program Planning Framework.
ASEAN-United States
The 11th ASEAN-United States (US) Dialogue was held in Bandar Seri Begawan on 15-16 May 1993. The Dialogue Meeting exchanged views on international and regional issues in the economic and political spheres. The US indicated its support for ASEAN efforts toward regional trade liberalization and welcomed the decision to create AFTA.
The meeting noted a remarkable growth of ASEAN-US trade which had more than doubled over the last decade. In order to sustain this trend, ASEAN called upon the US to refrain from taking unilateral action on trade issues which have been raised by ASEAN.
On development cooperation, ASEAN and the US agreed to foster closer coordination in the overall management of the ASEAN-US Development Cooperation Programme. A midterm-review and evaluation of projects would become a regular feature of current and future projects. The year under review saw significant progress made on the on-going development projects especially on the Private Investment Trade Opportunities (PITO). The Environmental Improvement Programme (EIP) has been approved and is scheduled to be implemented soon. US has informed ASEAN that the PITO and EIP projects would continue to be the main thrusts of its assistance programmes through 1997.