Seminar’s Theme on: Civil

Society Consultation on ASEAN

Charter
World Vision Meeting Hall,
25-26 October 2006

ASEAN Structure, Policy making process

and ASEAN Mechanism: ASEAN Charter
By Dr. CHHUN Vannak
Pannasastra University of Cambodia-PUC

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Association of Southeast Asian Nations

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The ASEAN Secretariat

Asean Secretariat building inaugurated on 9 May 1981

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The Establishment of ASEAN

Bangkok, 8 August 1967

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 ASEAN Member Countries
Lao PDR

Myanmar

Thailand Viet Nam

Brunei
Philippines
Darussalam

Malaysia Cambodia

Indonesia

Singapore

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 Goals of ASEAN
 To accelerate the economic growth,
social progress and cultural development
in the region through joint endeavors;
and

 To promote regional peace and stability

through abiding respect for justice and
the rule of law.

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 ASEAN Basic Data
 Total Population : 497.56 million
 Total GDP : US$ 737.48 billion
 Total trade: US$ 720 billion
 Total Area : 4,495,493 sq.km

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 ASEAN VISION 2020

A concert of Southeast Asian nations,

outward looking, living in peace, stability
and prosperity, bonded together in
partnership in dynamic development and
in a community of caring societies.

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
I. ASEAN Structure
Ministerial meetings deal with different domains, like agriculture and forestry,
trade, energy, environment, finance, information, investment, labour, law,
regional haze, rural development and poverty alleviation, science and
technology, social welfare, transnational crime, transportation, tourism, youth,
the AIA Council and, the AFTA Council. Supporting these ministerial bodies are
29 committees of senior officials and 122 technical working groups.
 The highest decision-making body in ASEAN is the annual meeting of the
ASEAN Heads of State and Government.
 The ASEAN Summit is preceded by a Joint Ministerial Meeting (JMM) composed
of Foreign and Economic Ministers.
 The ASEAN Standing Committee, under the Chairmanship of the Foreign
Minister of the country-in-chair, is mandated to collaborate the work of the
Association in between the annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM).
 The ASEAN Chair and Vice Chair are elected based on alphabetical rotation of
all ASEAN Member Countries.

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 I. ASEAN Structure
 The ASEAN Secretariat, chaired by the Secretary-General of ASEAN,
is mandated to “initiate, advise, coordinate, and implement ASEAN
activities.” The operational budget of the ASEAN Secretariat is
prepared annually and funded through equal contribution of all
ASEAN Member Countries.
 ASEAN is supported by several specialized centers of excellence
based on different ASEAN capitals. The Association is also supported
by ASEAN Committees in Third Countries consisting of Ambassadors
of all ASEAN Member Countries based in the capitals of the ASEAN
Dialogue Partners and other countries.
 ASEAN has 11 Dialogue Partners, mainly Australia, Canada, China,
European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, the
Russian Federation, the United States and the United Nations
Development Programme. In fact, ASEAN makes decisions based on
consensus and consultations. Other innovative ways of carrying out
decisions are also employed as and when necessary and agreed
upon.

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 I. ASEAN Structure
 AEM: ASEAN Economic Ministers
 AMM: ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
 AFMM: ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting
 SEOM: Senior Economic Officials Meeting
 ASC: ASEAN Standing Committee
 SOM: Senior Officials Meeting
 ASFOM: ASEAN Senior Finance Officials
Meeting

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 I.1. ASEAN ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE
ASEAN SUMMIT

AEM AMM AFMM Others

SEOM ASC SOM ASFOM Committees

ASEAN Secretariat

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 I.2. ASEAN SECRETARIAT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Secretary-General
Secretary-General
of
ofASEAN
ASEAN

Deputy
Deputy Deputy
Deputy
Secretary-
Secretary- Secretary-
Secretary-
General
General General
General

IAI Unit Special Projects

IAI Unit Special Projects

•Public Affairs Director

Director •Public Affairs Director
External
Director Director •Administration External Director
Economic Director
Finance and •Administration Relations & Director
Human
Economic Finance and •Finance Relations & Human
Integration Integration •Finance
•Personnel Coordination Development
Integration Integration •Personnel Coordination Development
Support •IT
Support •IT

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 II. ASEAN Policy making process
 "Today, ASEAN is not only a well-functioning, indispensable reality in
the region. It is a real force to be reckoned with far beyond the
region. It is also a trusted partner of the United Nations in the field
of development…” Kofi Annan Secretary-General of the United
Nations 16 February 2000, said.
 Establishment: The Bangkok Declaration was made on 8 August
1967 by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, to establish ASEAN.
Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July
1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30
April 1999.

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II. ASEAN Policy making process
 POLITICAL OBJECTIVE: PEACE AND STABILITY
 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia
(1976): Contains fundamentals principles on interstate
relations; Provides mechanisms for pacific settlement
of disputes.
 Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone
15 December 1995: An undertaking by ASEAN states
not to develop, manufacture, acquire, possess, test or
use nuclear weapons. Negotiations for the accession
of Nuclear Weapon States are underway.

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II.1. ASEAN Regional Forum

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II.1. ASEAN Regional Forum
PROMOTING POLITICAL AND
SECURITY DIALOGUE AND
COOPERATION IN THE ASIA-
PACIFIC REGION THROUGH:

 Confidence-building

 Preventive diplomacy

 Conflict resolution

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 Cambodia Canada

Brunei China
Darussalam
Australia
DPRK

Vietnam
European Union

United States India

Thailand ASEAN Regional Forum Indonesia

(ARF)
Singapore
Japan

Russia Laos

Rep. of Korea
Mongolia

Philippines Malaysia
Papua New Myanmar
Guinea New Zealand 18
 II.2. Enhanced Objectives of ASEAN
OBJECTIVES
 The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the
Association are: (1) to accelerate economic growth, social progress
and cultural development in the region and (2) to promote regional
peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of
law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence
to the principles of the United Nations Charter.
 The ASEAN Vision 2020, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders on the 30th
Anniversary of ASEAN, agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a
concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace,
stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic
development and in a community of caring societies.
 In 2003, the ASEAN Leaders resolved that an ASEAN Community
shall be established comprising three pillars, namely, ASEAN Security
Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural
Community.

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 II.3. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
Fundamental Principles:
 ASEAN Member Countries have adopted the following fundamental
principles in their relations with one another, as contained in the
Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC):
 mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality,
territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations;
 the right of every State to lead its national existence free from
external interference, subversion or coercion;
 non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;

 settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful manner;

 renunciation of the threat or use of force; and

 effective cooperation among themselves.

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 II.4. Three Pillars for an ASEAN Community
ASEAN SECURITY COMMUNITY
 The ASC shall aim to ensure that countries in the region live at peace
with one another and with the world in a just, democratic and
harmonious environment.
 The members of the Community pledge to rely exclusively on
peaceful processes in the settlement of intra-regional differences and
regard their security as fundamentally linked to one another and
bound by geographic location, common vision and objectives. It has
the following components: political development; shaping and
sharing of norms; conflict prevention; conflict resolution; post-
conflict peace building; and implementing mechanisms. It will be
built on the strong foundation of ASEAN processes, principles,
agreements, and structures, which evolved over the years and are
contained in the following major political agreements:

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 II.4. Three Pillars for an ASEAN Community
 ASEAN Declaration, Bangkok, 8 August 1967;
 Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality Declaration, Kuala Lumpur,
27 November 1971;
 Declaration of ASEAN Concord, Bali, 24 February 1976;
 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, Bali, 24 February
1976;
 ASEAN Declaration on the South China Sea, Manila, 22 July 1992;
 Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, Bangkok,
15 December 1997;
 ASEAN Vision 2020, Kuala Lumpur, 15 December 1997; and
 Declaration of ASEAN Concord II, Bali, 7 October 2003.
 In recognition of security interdependence in the Asia-Pacific region,
ASEAN established the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994. The
ARF’s agenda aims to evolve in three broad stages, namely the
promotion of confidence building, development of preventive
diplomacy and elaboration of approaches to conflicts.

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 II.4. Three Pillars for an ASEAN Community
 The present participants in the ARF consist of: Australia,
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, European
Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Democratic Republic of
Korea, Republic of Korea (ROK), Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New
Guinea, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore,
Thailand, the United States, and Viet Nam.
 The ARF addresses major regional security issues in the
region, including the relationship amongst the major
powers, non-proliferation, counter-terrorism, transnational
crime, South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula, among
others.

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 II.4. Three Pillars for an ASEAN Community
ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY:
 Its goal is to generate a stable, prosperous and highly competitive
ASEAN economic region in which there is a free flow of goods,
services, investment and a freer flow of capital, equitable economic
development and reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities in
year 2020.
 The ASEAN Economic Community shall turn ASEAN into a single
market and production base, turning the diversity that characterizes
the region into opportunities for business complementation and
making the ASEAN a more dynamic and stronger segment of the
global supply chain. ASEAN’s strategy shall comprise the integration
of ASEAN and enhancing ASEAN’s economic competitiveness.

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 II.4. Three Pillars for an ASEAN Community
To reach the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN has agreed on the
following:
 Create new mechanisms and measures to strengthen the
implementation of its existing economic initiatives including the
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), ASEAN Framework Agreement on
Services (AFAS) and ASEAN Investment Area (AIA);
 Speed up regional integration in the following priority sectors by
2010: air travel, agro-based products, automotives, e-commerce,
electronics, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based products, textiles and
apparels, tourism, and wood-based products.
 Facilitate movement of business persons, skilled labour and talents;
and
 Consolidate the institutional mechanisms of ASEAN, including the
improvement of the existing ASEAN Dispute Settlement Mechanism
to ensure expeditious and legally-binding resolution of any economic
disputes.

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 II.4. Three Pillars for an ASEAN Community
 Conducted since 1992, the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is now in
place. It aims to promote the region’s competitive advantage as a
single production unit. The elimination of tariff and non-tariff
barriers among Member Countries is expected to promote greater
economic efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness.
 As of 1 January 2005, tariffs on almost 99 percent of the products in
the Inclusion List of the ASEAN-6 (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) have been
decreased to no more than 5 percent. Over 60 percent of these
products have zero tariffs.
 The average tariff for ASEAN-6 has been reduced from over 12
percent from the start of AFTA to 2 percent today.
 For the newer Member Countries, including Cambodia, Lao PDR,
Myanmar, and Viet Nam (CLMV), tariffs on about 81 percent of their
Inclusion List have been lowered down to within the 0-5 percent
range.
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 II. Three Pillars for an ASEAN Community
Other major integration-related economic activities of ASEAN incorporate:
 Roadmap for Financial and Monetary Integration of ASEAN in four areas, mainly,
capital market development, capital account liberalization, liberalisation of financial
services and currency cooperation;
 trans-ASEAN transportation network consisting of major inter-state highway and
railway networks, including the Singapore to Kunming Rail-Link, principal ports,
and sea lanes for maritime traffic, inland waterway transport, and major civil
aviation links;
 Roadmap for Integration of Air Travel Sector;
 interoperability and interconnectivity of national telecommunications equipment
and services, including the ASEAN Telecommunications Regulators Council Sectoral
Mutual Recognition Arrangement (ATRC-MRA) on Conformity Assessment for
Telecommunications Equipment;
 trans-ASEAN energy networks, which consist of the ASEAN Power Grid and the
Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline Projects;
 Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) focusing on infrastructure, human resource
development, information and communications technology, and regional economic
integration primarily in the CLMV countries;
 Visit ASEAN Campaign and the private sector-led ASEAN Hip-Hop Pass to promote
intra-ASEAN tourism; and
 Agreement on the ASEAN Food Security Reserve.
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 II.4. Three Pillars for an ASEAN Community
ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY:
 The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, in line with the goal set by ASEAN Vision
2020, maps out a Southeast Asia bonded together in partnership as a community
of caring societies and founded on a common regional identity.
 The Community shall promote cooperation in social development aimed at raising
the standard of living of disadvantaged groups and the rural population, and shall
seek the active involvement of all sectors of society, in particular women, youth,
and local communities.
 ASEAN shall ensure that its work force shall be prepared for, and benefit from,
economic integration by investing more resources for basic and higher education,
training, science and technology development, job creation, and social protection.
 ASEAN shall further intensify cooperation in the area of public health, including in
the prevention and control of infectious and communicable diseases.
 The development and enhancement of human resources is a key strategy for
employment generation, alleviating poverty and socio-economic disparities, and
ensuring economic growth with equity.

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 II.5. Other ASEAN Activities
Among the on-going activities of ASEAN in this area include the following:
 ASEAN Work Programme for Social Welfare, Family, and Population;
 ASEAN Work Programme on HIV/AIDS;
 ASEAN Work Programme on Community-Based Care for the Elderly;
 ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network;
 ASEAN Work Programme on Preparing ASEAN Youth for Sustainable Employment
and Other Challenges of Globalisation;
 ASEAN University Network (AUN) promoting collaboration among seventeen
member universities ASEAN;
 ASEAN Students Exchange Programme, Youth Cultural Forum, and the ASEAN
Young Speakers Forum;
 The Annual ASEAN Culture Week, ASEAN Youth Camp and ASEAN Quiz;
 ASEAN Media Exchange Programme; and
 Framework for Environmentally Sustainable Cities (ESC) and ASEAN Agreement on
Transboundary Haze Pollution.

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 II.6. External Relations
 EXTERNAL RELATIONS
 The ASEAN Vision 2020 affirmed an outward-looking ASEAN playing a
pivotal role in the international community and advancing ASEAN’s
common interests.
 Building on the Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation of 1999,
cooperation between the Southeast and Northeast Asian countries has
accelerated with the holding of an annual summit among the leaders of
ASEAN, China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK) within the ASEAN
Plus Three process.
 ASEAN Plus Three relations continue to expand and deepen in the areas
of security dialogue and cooperation, transnational crime, trade and
investment, environment, finance and monetary, agriculture and
forestry, energy, tourism, health, labour, culture and the arts, science
and technology, information and communication technology, social
welfare and development, youth, and rural development and poverty
eradication. There are now thirteen ministerial-level meetings under the
ASEAN Plus Three process.

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 II. 6. External Relations
 Bilateral trading arrangements have been or are being forged between ASEAN
Member Countries and China, Japan, and the ROK. These arrangements will serve
as the building blocks of an East Asian Free Trade Area as a long term goal.
 ASEAN continues to develop cooperative relations with its Dialogue Partners,
namely, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, the ROK, New
Zealand, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, and the United
Nations Development Programme. ASEAN also promotes cooperation with
Pakistan in some areas of mutual interest.
 Consistent with its resolve to enhance cooperation with other developing regions,
ASEAN maintains contact with other inter-governmental organizations, namely, the
Economic Cooperation Organization, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Rio Group,
the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the South Pacific Forum, and
through the recently established Asian-African Sub-Regional Organization
Conference.
 Most ASEAN Member Countries also participate actively in the activities of the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the
East Asia-Latin America Forum (EALAF).

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 III. ASEAN Mechanism
 To support the conduct of ASEAN’s external
relations, ASEAN has established committees
composed of heads of diplomatic missions in the
following capitals: Beijing, Berlin, Brussels,
Canberra, Geneva, Islamabad, London, Moscow,
New Delhi, New York, Ottawa, Paris, Riyadh, Seoul,
Tokyo, Washington D.C. and Wellington.

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 III. ASEAN Mechanism
 The Secretary-General of ASEAN is appointed on merit and accorded
ministerial status. The Secretary-General of ASEAN, who has a five-
year term, is mandated to initiate, advise, coordinate, and implement
ASEAN activities. The members of the professional staff of the
ASEAN Secretariat are appointed on the principle of open recruitment
and region-wide competition.
 ASEAN has several specialized bodies and arrangements promoting
inter-governmental cooperation in various fields including the
following: ASEAN Agricultural Development Planning Centre, ASEAN-
EC Management Centre, ASEAN Centre for Energy, ASEAN
Earthquake Information Centre, ASEAN Foundation, ASEAN Poultry
Research and Training Centre, ASEAN Regional Centre for
Biodiversity Conservation, ASEAN Rural Youth Development Centre,
ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Centre, ASEAN Timber Technology
Centre, ASEAN Tourism Information Centre, and the ASEAN
University Network.

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 III. ASEAN Mechanism
 ASEAN enhances dialogue and consultations with
professional and business organizations with relevant aims
and purposes, including the ASEAN-Chambers of
Commerce and Industry, ASEAN Business Forum, ASEAN
Tourism Association, ASEAN Council on Petroleum, ASEAN
Ports Association, Federation of ASEAN Shipowners, ASEAN
Confederation of Employers, ASEAN Fisheries Federation,
ASEAN Vegetable Oils Club, ASEAN Intellectual Property
Association, and the ASEAN-Institutes for Strategic and
International Studies. Furthermore, there are 58 Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGOs), which have formal
affiliations with ASEAN.

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III.1. E-ASEAN
 To encourage and facilitate the growth of
e-commerce;

 Utilization of ICT in social services and

government operations; and

 To narrow the digital divide within the

region.

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III.2. ASEAN Tourism

To promote Southeast Asia as a

single tourism destination.

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 III.3. FINANCIAL COOPERATION
ASEAN Surveillance Process
 Monitoring of global, regional and
national financial developments

 Peer review

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III.4. The Chiang Mai Initiative

 An expanded ASEAN Swap Arrangement

to help countries meet temporary
liquidity problems

 A network of bilateral swap

arrangements among ASEAN countries,
China, Japan and Republic of Korea

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 III.5. Towards an ASEAN
Economic Community

From ASEAN Free Trade Area to an

ASEAN single market and
production base characterized by
free flow of goods, services,
investment, labor, and capital by
2020.

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III.6. FUNCTIONAL COOPERATION

 Human and social development

 Culture and information
 Science and technology
 Environment
 Transnational crime, including
terrorism, drugs and narcotics
trafficking.

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III.7.EXTERNAL RELATIONS:
Outward-looking ASEAN

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III.8. EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Dialogue Partners

Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, European Union, New Zealand, Republic of
Korea, Russian Federation, United States of America

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 EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Inter-regional cooperation

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IV. ASEAN Charter
 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN
Charter, Kuala Lumpur, 12 December 2005: The 11th ASEAN
Summit is themed "One Vision, One Identity, One Community".
 The 11th ASEAN Summit closed on Monday at the Kuala Lumpur
Convention Center with the signing of the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on
the Establishment of the ASEAN Charter.
 In a statement at the ASEAN Summit meeting, Malaysian Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi confirmed that the decision to draft
the ASEAN Charter is not only a historic and significant step for member
states, but also a reiteration of their belief and confidence in ASEAN.

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 IV. ASEAN Charter
 Abdullah stated that the signing of the ASEAN Charter will set a new
milestone in ASEAN's development into a mature regional organization.
 The ASEAN Charter will legitimize the grouping on the basis of a legal
standing. It also offers the ASEAN Secretary-General and the ASEAN
Secretariat in Jakarta more power in decision-making.
 The ASEAN Charter emphasizes, among other things, democratic
institutions, transparency and good governance, ASEAN's adherence to
the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states,
and the need to uphold non-discrimination of any of the ASEAN countries
in the group's external relations.
 The charter is oriented toward the ASEAN countries continuing to prefer
non-aggression and exclusive reliance on peaceful means to settle
differences or disputes.

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 IV. ASEAN Charter
 CONSCIOUS of the unity and diversity in ASEAN and the existing ties of history, geography
and culture that have bound their peoples together;
 RECOGNISING the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) of 1967 as the founding
document of ASEAN that represents the collective will of the nations of Southeast Asia to
bond themselves together in friendship and cooperation and, through joint efforts and
sacrifices, secure for their peoples and for posterity the blessings of peace, freedom and
prosperity;
 ACKNOWLEDGING that the vision, strategy and initiative of ASEAN over the years have
made an important contribution to the maintenance of peace, security and stability of the
region;
 COGNISANT that mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial
integrity and national identity of ASEAN Member Countries has fostered a positive
environment for the steady development of an ASEAN Community to meet the challenges of
the future;
 DESIRING to realise an ASEAN Community as envisaged in the Declaration of ASEAN
Concord II (Bali Concord II) and its Plans of Action and Roadmap, and the ASEAN Vision
2020 which envision ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward-looking, living
in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development
and in a community of caring societies;

46
 IV. ASEAN Charter
 RECOGNISING that the global and regional economic and
political environment has changed and is constantly
changing thereby requiring ASEAN and its community
building efforts to evolve and adapt to these changes and
challenges;
 RECOGNISING the importance of having an appropriate
institutional framework of ASEAN that is able to meet the
challenges of realizing an ASEAN community;
 CONVINCED of the need for an ASEAN Charter to serve
as a firm foundation for ASEAN in the years ahead and to
facilitate community building towards an ASEAN
Community and beyond;

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 IV.1. The Declaration of ASEAN Charter
The Declaration includes the following:

 FIRST, being committed to establish the ASEAN Charter.

 SECOND, the ASEAN Charter acting as a legal and institutional framework of
ASEAN to support the realization of its goals and objectives.
 THIRD, the ASEAN Charter that will codify all ASEAN norms, rules, and values and
reaffirm that ASEAN agreements signed and other instruments adopted before the
establishment of the ASEAN Charter shall continue to apply and be legally binding
where appropriate.
 FOURTH, the ASEAN Charter that will reaffirm principles, goals and ideals
contained in ASEAN’s milestone agreements, in particular the ASEAN Declaration
(1967), the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (1976), the Treaty
on Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (1995), the ASEAN Vision 2020
(1997) and the Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (2003) as well as the principles of
inter-state relations in accordance with the UN Charter and established
international law that promote and protect ASEAN community interests as well as
inter-state relations and the national interests of the individual ASEAN Member
Countries.

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 IV.1. Cont.
These embody among others:
 Enhancing community interest for the benefit of all ASEAN Member Countries;
 Retaining primary driving force of ASEAN;
 Reducing the development gaps among Member Countries;
 Observing a set of common socio-cultural and political community values and
shared norms as contained in the various ASEAN documents;
 Continuing to spur a community of caring societies and promote a common
regional identity;
 Effective implementation as well as compliance with ASEAN’s agreements;
 Promoting democracy, human rights and obligations, transparency and good
governance and strengthening democratic institutions;
 Ensuring that countries in the region live at peace with one another and with the
world at large in a just, democratic and harmonious environment;
 Decision making on the basis of equality, mutual respect and consensus;
 Commitment to reinforce ASEAN’s competitiveness, to deepen and broaden
ASEAN’s internal economic integration and linkages with the world economy;

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 IV.1. Cont.
 Stimulating regional solidarity and cooperation;
 Mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and
national identity of all nations;
 Abandoning nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and
avoidance of arms race;
 Giving up the use of force and threat to use of force; non-aggression and exclusive
reliance on peaceful means for the settlement of differences or disputes;
 Promoting beneficial relations between ASEAN and its friends and partners;
 Retaining non-discrimination of any ASEAN Member Countries in ASEAN’s external
relations and cooperative activities;
 Complying with principles of international law concerning friendly relations and
cooperation among States; and
 The right of every state to lead its national existence free from external
interference, subversion or coercion and non-interference in the internal affairs of
one another.
FIFTH, the ASEAN Charter will confer a legal personality to ASEAN and determine the
functions, develop areas of competence of key ASEAN bodies and their relationship
with one another in the overall ASEAN structure.

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 IV.2. Accord on the Creation of ASEAN Charter
 The Agreement includes the following:
 To form an Eminent Persons Group (EPG), consisting of highly
distinguished and well respected citizens from ASEAN Member
Countries, with the mandate to examine and offer practical
recommendations on the directions and nature of the ASEAN Charter
relevant to the ASEAN Community as envisaged in the Bali Concord
II and beyond, taking into account, but not limited to, the principles,
values and objectives as contained in this Declaration.
 To consider their recommendations at our subsequent meetings.
 To request our Ministers to establish, as necessary, a High Level
Task Force to implement the drafting of the ASEAN Charter based on
the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN
Charter and the recommendations of the EPG.

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 Overview
 The enhanced cooperation, economic, cultural, political
social by ASEAN Member Countries makes ASEAN become
a focal point for Southeast Asia.
 The attempt to harmonize the economies of the region as a
whole does requires strong supports from a legal
framework, which builds on the existing institutions,
mechanisms. The ASEAN Charter development does reflect
a turning point of ASEAN history and evolution.
 The coming meeting on the draft of the ASEAN Charter in
Cebu, the Philippines on December 2006 will determine the
fate of ASEAN to move toward an ASEAN Community as
envisaged in ASEAN Vision 2020.

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 Overview
 The expansion of ASEAN economic links extending from
Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, the
European Union, the United States to the rest of the world
will take ASEAN toward economic prosperity, and poverty
alleviation in the region.
 The focus on ASEAN Charter is a positive sign for the
development and enhancement of governance and
institutions in the region.
 The ASEAN community will significantly raise the living
standard of Southeast Asia as a whole and vehemently
augment intra-ASEAN trade.

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 References
 ASEAN Secretariat Documents (2004-2006)
 ASEAN Documents Series 2005
 Annual Report 2005-2006, ASEAN at the Center
 Statements of ASEAN Secretary-General, H.E. Ong Kong
Yong (2004)
 Vientiane Action Programme (VAP) 2004-2010,
supported by the ASEAN-UNDP Partnership Facility
 ASEAN website: www.aseansec.org
 Global Policy website: www.globalpolicy.org
 Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies website:
www.idss.edu.sg.

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