34th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting closes
The 34th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-34) ended in Hanoi on July 24, after two days.
Addressing the closing session, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien said: "Under the
central theme of the 34th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting for a stable, united, integrated and
outward-looking ASEAN, we have worked very hard to identify all possible ways and means for
further advancing ASEAN integration and cohesiveness. The discussions we have had focused on
our concerted efforts aimed at strengthening unity and enhancing co-operation within ASEAN,
deepening the partnership with ASEAN's dialogue countries and further promoting ASEAN's
relations with other regions and institutions. The outcome of our meeting is well reflected in the
Joint Communique and other documents".
In accordance with ASEAN tradition, Mr Nien handed over the chairmanship of AMM-35 to
Foreign Minister Prince Mohamed Bolkiah of Brunei.
Speaking at the session, Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, who will resume the role as chairman of the
35th ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) said: "We know that ASEAN must remain a strong
force for peaceful co-operation in the life of all our people. We also know that, today, the
association has to satisfy the many common needs of the hundreds of millions of people of our
region.
"It also has to take care of all the special interests of our fellow members today. So, whether in
day-to-day work of our Secretariat, in our various ministerial meetings, or at the summit, we all
face far-reaching challenges.
"In other words, ASEAN will be once more asked by its own people to show its on-going
relevance to almost every aspect of their lives. In this respect, there are two tasks that are
becoming more and more urgent. We have to accelerate our efforts to narrow the development
gap between our members. At the same time we have to help all our people acquire the skills and
experience they need to take on today's world on today's terms.
"As if these were not enough in themselves, they have to be achieved in the face of a global
economic slowdown."
Later, Foreign Minister Nien held a press conference on the results of the just-concluded ASEAN
Ministerial Meeting (AMM).
Mr Nien said "ASEAN and its Foreign Ministers have much to do in the future. It can be said that
each summit meeting, as well as each AMM always marks a new step of ASEAN development
and brings about a new perception, a new impetus and a new determination for all its member
countries to build together a stable and united ASEAN - a reliable partner of other countries,
regions and organisations in the world."
Regarding the Indonesian issue, Foreign Minister Nien emphasised that all ASEAN foreign
ministers were much concerned about the Indonesian situation as Indonesia is the biggest country
in ASEAN. They also expressed pleasure at Indonesia's political change which took place in a
peaceful atmosphere as well as at the election of Megawati Sukarnoputri as its president.
All ASEAN countries expressed their hope that this change would bring about stability and rapid
economic recovery for Indonesia. Indonesia's stability would contribute to the regional stability,
Mr Nien added.
About the Treaty on South East Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, Mr Nien said the ASEAN
countries had ratified the treaty and would continue dialogues with the nuclear powers.
Nhan Dan - July 24, 2001.
Hanoi Declaration on narrowing development gap for closer ASEAN integration
Following is the full text of the Hanoi Declaration adopted in Hanoi on July 23 during the 34th
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting:
We, the foreign ministers of the ASEAN member countries representing Brunei Darussalam, the
Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic,
Malaysia, the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the
Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Acknowledging that the benefits of globalisation are at present unevenly distributed and that the
development gap among nations and regions would be further widened without effective measures
to address the negative impact of globalisation.
Recalling the commitment of the ASEAN leaders, proclaimed in the ASEAN Vision 2020 at the
Second Informal ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur in 1997, to promote equitable economic
development and the reduction of poverty and economic disparities in the ASEAN region and in
the Hanoi Plan of Action adopted at the Sixth ASEAN Summit in Hanoi, in 1998 prescribing
concrete measures to reduce the development gap among ASEAN member countries and to
promote the economic integration of the new member countries into ASEAN; and
Evoking the decision of the ASEAN leaders on the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI)
adopted at the Fourth Informal Summit in Singapore in 2000, giving direction to and sharpening
the focus of collective efforts in ASEAN to narrow the development gap within ASEAN as well
as between ASEAN and other parts of the world.
Do hereby declare
1. We resolve to promote, through concerted efforts, effective co-operation and mutual assistance
to narrow the development gap among ASEAN member countries and between ASEAN and the
rest of the world for the sake of dynamic and sustained growth of our region and prosperity of all
our peoples.
2. We shall work together to identify, through research, analysis and consultation, the comparative
strengths of our economies and their potential for complementarity, with a view to promoting
regional economic integration and a sense of community and shared responsibility among our
nations.
3. We shall devote special efforts and resources to promoting the development of the newer
member countries of ASEAN (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam or CLMV) with priority
given to infrastructure, human resources development, and information and communication
technology.
4. We renew our call for the development of the region through sub-regional co-operative
programmes, including the ASEAN-Mekong Basin Development Co-operation, the
Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area, the
Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle, the Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore Growth
Triangle and the West-East Corridor across Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.
We encourage contact and co-ordination among the different frameworks as well as among the
relevant regional organisations in order to benefit from their best practices.
5. We shall continue to expand and deepen our linkages with the rest of the world, particularly
with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea within the ASEAN+3 framework, and with the
other dialogue partners of ASEAN.
6. We are determined for these purposes, to mobilise resources in partnership with our dialogue
partners, the international community including the private sector to develop the following priority
areas:
Infrastructure
7. We shall strengthen our transportation linkages through developing and implementing more
extensive land, sea and air infrastructural projects in order to facilitate the flow of goods and
people and to generate higher income for people in the region. Such projects include the
Singapore-Kunming Rail Link and the ASEAN Highway Network. We urge the international
community to provide technical support to and participate in these major infrastructural projects.
8. We look forward to the expeditious implementation of the trans-ASEAN energy networks
consisting of the ASEAN Power Grid and the trans-ASEAN gas Pipeline projects, which would
help ensure the security and sustainability of energy supplies in ASEAN.
Human Resources Development
9. We place the highest priority on the development of our human resources as the key to
economic growth, social stability and human fulfillment.
10. We are encouraged by the assistance being extended by ASEAN member countries to the
newer member countries in various areas of human resource development including under the IAI
framework.
11. We attach great importance to the establishment and strengthening of training institutes and
programmes in CLMV and their linkage with those in the other ASEAN member countries for
mutual assistance.
12. We strongly encourage efforts to promote and upgrade the use of English as a tool of
communication among all peoples of ASEAN in order to make ASEAN competitive in the
knowledge-based economy.
13. We recognise the need to explore the setting up of benchmarks and time-tables in the field of
education to ensure the development of skills and attitudes of our people required by the
knowledge-based economy and the information age.
14. We welcome the comprehensive assessment being undertaken of the training needs of
government officials in CLMV and urge international support to meet these training needs while
mobilising our own resources for this endeavour.
Information and Communication Technology
15. ASEAN is determined to use information and communication technology (ICT) as a tool for
narrowing the development gap and closing the digital divide within and among member countries
as well as between ASEAN and the rest of the world. We reaffirm the importance for ASEAN to
promote the development and the use of ICT for raising people's income, especially in the rural
areas, for improving the system of public education, and for enhancing the benefits of public health
and medical care for the poor. Therefore, we call for the urgent implementation of the e-ASEAN
Framework Agreement and the Asian IT Belt Initiative.
16. We look forward to the expeditious liberalisation and facilitation of trade and investment in the
ICT sector to ensure the widespread availability and use of inexpensive ICT goods and services,
and to adopt concrete measures aimed at facilitating e-commerce in the region.
17. We reaffirm the importance of the assessment to be conducted, with international support, of
the needs of CLMV in terms of their e-readiness, especially the level of ICT skills and
infrastructure requirements. We call on the international community including the private sector to
co-operate with ASEAN in meeting those needs effectively.
Regional Economic Integration
18. We fully support the measures being undertaken to integrate CLMV into ASEAN as a
regional economy, including the ASEAN Free Trade Area, the ASEAN Investment Area and
liberalisation of trade in services.
19. We especially welcome the decision by the ASEAN economic ministers on the extension of
unilateral preferential treatment by the six older ASEAN member countries to imports from
CLMV on a bilateral basis.
20. We call for renewed resolve to conclude the remaining protocols necessary to implement the
ASEAN Agreement on Goods in Transit so as to facilitate land transport in South East Asia and
reduce its cost. We look forward to the early conclusion of the ASEAN multi-modal and
inter-state transport agreements.
21. We reaffirm the importance of expanding more efficient air services in our region for the freer
movement of people and goods. This would greatly help integrate the ASEAN region, foster
commercial and human contacts, and stimulate broad-based economic activities and growth. In
this light, we reiterate ASEAN's resolve to develop a Competitive Air Service Policy which may
be a gradual step towards an Open Sky Policy in ASEAN.
22. We reiterate the call of our governments on members of the World Trade Organisation to
expedite the accession of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to the organisation so as to enable them
to benefit more fully from the multilateral trading system in the world market.
23. We shall step up our efforts to make possible the participation of Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar in the working groups of APEC and ASEM with a view to their eventual full
membership in those forums.
24. We shall convene a workshop in Cambodia to develop a comprehensive and coherent
programme for Mekong development co-operation, especially for the integration of CLMV into
the ASEAN economic mainstream. We likewise support the convening of a seminar in Brunei
Darussalam on 'Complementing Regional Integration through Sub-regional Groupings/Growth
Areas such as the BIMP-EAGA, IMS-GT, IMT-GT and the Greater Mekong Sub-region.'
25. We shall establish an IAI Unit in the ASEAN Secretariat to enhance its capability in
co-ordinating and supporting ASEAN's efforts in realising the objectives of this declaration.
Nhan Dan - July 24, 2001.
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