DEVELOPMENTS IN FUNCTIONAL COOPERATION

Cooperation in functional cooperation reached several milestones during the year. Three important framework documents were approved at the ministerial level : the Plan of Action on the Environment, the Plan of Action on Science and Technology, and the Plan of action on Children. Plans of action on Social Development, on Culture and Information and on Drugs are also in the final stages of formulation. The five Ministerial Meetings on functional cooperation held during the year attested to increased cooperation activities in social development, labor, environment, science and technology and culture and information.

The ASEAN Committee on Social Development (COSD) and its subsidiary bodies made substantial headway in pursuing their respective programmes of cooperation. The 18th Meeting of COSD was held at Yogyakarta. Indonesia, in September 1993. Underscoring its commitment to promote social development in the region, COSD agreed to formulate a Plan of Action on Social Development. The Plan would provide greater focus to social development policies in the region, suggest new priorities for regional cooperation, and identify funding possibilities.

During the period under review, two ASEAN Ministerial Meetings were held on related topics. The Third Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Social Welfare was held at Manila in December 1993, which was preceded by a Senior Officials Meeting in November 1993. At that Meeting, the Ministers adopted a Resolution on the ASEAN Plan of Action for Children, which provides the framework for the survival, protection and development of ASEAN children. The Ministers decided that the Plan shall be an integral part of Member Countries efforts in improving the lives of their peoples in the ASEAN region.

The other ministerial meeting held during the year was the 10th ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting held in Singapore in May 1994. The Ministers emphasized their grave concern over the move by some developed countries and the International Trade Secretariats (ITSS) to introduce social clauses into international trade agreements, and to use this as a condition for gaining access to the markets of the developed countries by developing countries. The Ministers also expressed their concern that some ITS�s have used local trade unions as their proxies to force compliance with ILO labor standards. Such attempts, they considered would undermine the competitiveness of developing countries and erode their comparative advantage thereby hurting their economies.

The Ministers emphasized that they did not oppose the application of labor standards and were committed to improving the economic and social well-being of workers. However, they were concerned with the rigid imposition of labor standards and the rigid use of these standards to stifle free trade and economic development which thereby constituted a new form of protectionism.

Most of the subsidiary bodies under COSD met during the year to pursue the implementation of programmes and projects in their sectors. The 11 th Meeting of the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Health and Nutrition (ASCH & N) held in Singapore in June 1993 adopted a mission statement and identified priority areas of cooperation. The Second Meeting of the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Education (ASCOE) was held at Kuala Lumpur in January 1994. ASCOE reviewed, among others, the status of follow-up actions taken with regard to the Fourth Summit decisions concerning the ASEAN University Networking and the Integration of ASEAN Studies in the Primary and Secondary Schools Curricula.

Following the designation of ASEAN Desk Officers for Children, a Consultative Workshop of the ASEAN Desk Officers for Children was held at Manila in November 1993. The Workshop considered and endorsed a draft of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Children which was subsequently adopted in a resolution signed by the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Social Welfare.

The 4th Meeting of the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Labor Affairs (ASCLA) was held at Manila in March 1994. ASCLA discussed the continuing concerns over activities of the International Trade Secretariats to pressure developing countries to comply strictly with rigid labor standards and to use such standards to measure social justice in developing countries. ASCLA agreed that ASEAN should continue to speak with one concerted voice and adopt a common position on the continuing activities of International Trade Secretariats as they related to the linking of trade with social clauses.

The 8th Meeting of the ASEAN Experts Group on Natural Disasters was held at Langkawi, Malaysia in August 1993. The Experts Group agreed to expand its purview to include �sudden man-mad disasters� disasters, in addition to natural disasters. Accordingly, the Experts Group agreed to have its name changed to the ASEAN Experts Group on Disaster Management and adopted a mission statement to guide its future activities.



The 16th ASOD Meeting was held at Manila in October 1993. The Meeting considered the proposed ASEAN Three-Year Plan of Action on Drug Abuse Control which is intended to guide ASEAN cooperation in the priority areas of preventive drug education, treatment and rehabilitation, law enforcement and research. The Plan spells out the objectives for each priority area as well as the strategic thrusts which would guide ASODs programmes and activities. ASOD agreed that the Plan should continue to intensify working relationships between ASOD and third countries or international organizations and also to facilitate the early ratification of all relevant United Nations Conventions governing the control of drugs.

During the period under review, three projects obtained funding from the EC and will be implemented in 1994. These are the two components of the project ASEAN Three-Year Plan of Action on Preventive Education (namely, Strengthening Preventive Drug Information Programmes and Parent-Youth Movements Against Drug Abuse) and the project ASEAN Training Courses for Drug Rehabilitation Professionals. The three projects will significantly improve ASEANs ability to effectively manage drug demand reduction programmes involving prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.

In the area of supply reduction, ASEAN-EC cooperation on drug matters was extended to the control of drug precursors in the past year. As a follow-up to a seminar held in Europe in April 1993 to familiarize ASEAN participants on the ECs experience with drug precursor control, and as agreed by the 16th ASOD Meeting, an ad-hoc ASEAN-EC Meeting on Drug Precursors was convened at Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in January 1994 to discuss an EC proposed draft agreement on precursor control. At the Meeting, ASEAN agreed that international cooperation in the control of drugs precursors was an important strategy in the fight against the illicit trafficking of drugs but that the nature and form of a proposed agreement, if any, should be negotiated on a bilateral basis.




Science and technology remains an
important area of cooperation with ASEAN's Dialogue partners


ASEAN cooperation in science and technology moved apace to develop key strategies for coping with the dynamic changes in the region. The strategic blueprint for the sector was em- bodied in the updated Plan of Action on Science and Technology which was adopted by the 6th Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Science and Technology at Manila in February 1994. Prior to the Ministers Meeting, the Committee on Science and Technology (COST) met at Kuala Lumpur in August 1993 and at Manila in January 1994 to pave the way for the formulation and review of the draft updated Plan.

The S & T Plan of Action for 1994-1998 updates the 1989 Plan and takes into account the development of indigenous technological and innovative capabilities in the region and the promotion of collaboration between the private and public sectors. It identifies six development strategies and the corresponding support actions to promote national and regional objectives for economic development and to strengthen ASEANs international Linkages. It also addresses regional and global development strategies where S & T could play a major role, among others, AFTA and UNCED.

To achieve self-reliance in funding and organizing S&T activities, COST has decided that cost sharing will be the primary modality for funding S & T activities. This modality will complement funding support from other sources, such as the ASEAN Fund, the Dialogue Partners and the ASEAN Science Fund.

Science and technology remains an important area of cooperation with ASEANs Dialogue Partners. ASEAN saw satisfactory progress in the implementation of collaborative projects under Phase 11 of the ASEAN-Australia Economic Cooperation Programme in the fields of biotechnology, marine science, microelectronics and non-conventional energy research. The Science and Technology cooperative projects with Canada have proceeded smoothly. Japan had successfully implemented the joint project on Materials Science and Technology, the concluding report for which was forwarded to Japan last November. New Zealand has identified S & T as an area for further cooperation and has commissioned a Science and Technology Desk Study to operationalize S & T collaborative activities with ASEAN. Mean- while, the European Community is also considering the possibility of expanding the Fourth Framework Programme for S & T cooperation with ASEAN. ASEAN cooperation with the Republic of Korea has also been recently expanded to include S & T. Besides its Dialogue Partners. ASEAN has agreed to cooperate on S & T activities with India, China, as well as Laos and Vietnam.



The 6th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (AMME) held at Bandar Seri Begawan in April 1994 provided a strong impetus to ASEAN regional cooperation in the environment. The Ministers adopted the Bandar Seri Begawan Resolution on Environment and Development which signified ASEANs commitment to sustainable development. The Resolution contains four important elements, namely:
  1. the adoption and implementation of the ASEAN Strategic Plan of Action on the Environment (1994-1998),

  2. the adoption of a Harmonized Environmental Quality Standards for ambient air quality and river water quality by the year 2010,

  3. the declaration of 1995 as ASEAN Environment Year, and

  4. the implementation of the decisions of the Second Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.


The Ministers adopted the Bandar Seri Begawan
Resolution on Environment and Development which
signified ASEANs commitment to sustainable development.


The ASEAN Strategic Plan of Action on the Environment seeks, among others, to introduce policy measures and to promote institutional development that encourage the integration of environmental factors in both national and regional developmental processes. It also seeks to respond to specific recommendations of Agenda 21 requiring priority action in ASEAN.

The Plan of action specifies the strategies that will best promote the Plans objectives. This include:
  1. the development of a regional framework for integrating environment and development concerns in decision-making,

  2. promotion of government-private sector interactions,

  3. strengthening knowledge and information data bases,

  4. strengthening of institutional and legal capacities for implementation,

  5. establishment of a regional framework on biodiversity conservation,

  6. promotion and management of coastal zones, and

  7. development of environmentally sound technologies.
In declaring 1995 as ASEAN Environment Year, the Ministers were convinced that this would be an effective means to highlight ASEAN environmental issues and to promote cooperative programmes for stimulating public awareness of these issues. The event also seeks to broaden the participatory process for environment cooperation in ASEAN and to stimulate regional activities in the environmental area. The theme ASEAN Environment Year: Green and Clean was chosen for the ASEAN Environment Year.




During the year under review, the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information (COCI) took steps towards expanding its programmes in the information sector to cover other priorities of ASEAN such as AFTA and to begin to project the image of ASEAN abroad. In its 28th Meeting held at Chiang Rai, Thailand in August 1993, the COCI requested the Sub-Committee on Information to formulate new projects at its next Working Group Meetings which would take into account these priority concerns.

The 28th COCI Meeting adopted the Global Thrusts and Priorities of COCI for the 3 Year Programme FY 1994-1997 arising from a Combined Meeting of the Culture and Information Working Groups held at Ball in May 1993. Six broad strategic thrusts have been identified, namely: promotion of ASEAN, development of source materials on culture for ASEAN studies, development of human resources, preservation and revitalization of cultural heritage, and utilization of technology. The common themes adopted to maximize impact and ensure integration of projects are: environment, cultural heritage, women, children, drugs and AIDS, and social and economic integration.

ASEAN cooperation in the field of information was given a further boost by the Third Conference of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information held at Manila in December 1993. The Ministers recalled the vital role of information in promoting awareness of ASEAN, advancing its goals as well as enhancing its image within and outside the region. Realizing the need for a coordinated and effective approach, the Ministers adopted a framework for a plan of action in the field of information. The framework sets out the goals and objectives of ASEAN cooperation in information which include, among others, the effective promotion and projection of ASEAN within and outside the region through a more intensified use of mass media.

COCI completed a number of projects during the period under review. For FY 1993-1994, ASC approved a budget of US$2,554,081 from the ASEAN Cultural Fund for the Meetings of four Working Groups and the implementation of twenty four projects broken down as follows: seven projects under the Working Group on Literary and ASEAN Studies, three projects under the Working Group on Visual and Performing Arts, seven projects under the Working Group on Radio/TV and Films/Video, and seven projects under the Working Group on Print and Interpersonal Media.