At the opening of the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting organised in Phnom Penh on 9 July, 2012, SamdechAkkaMohaSenaPadeiTecho HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia expressed the interest to host the meeing as the Chair of ASEAN in 2012 and that, in one hand, it coincides with the celebration of the 45th Anniversary of ASEAN, on the other hand, it is convened amidst ASEAN’s ongoing efforts toward building the ASEAN Community by 2015.
He also highly appreciated the important role of ASEAN in the development of the region as well as achievement the development of ASEAN now: After 45 years, ASEAN today has become a closely-integrated political and economic entity, an influential player in Asia and an indispensable strategic partner of major countries and organizations in the world. Cambodia is certainly proud of having made positive contribution to ASEAN according to its capacity and ability in bringing about such progress since it became a full member of ASEAN in 1999”.
Indeed, the ASEAN achievements recorded to date are enormous and of great significance. Those achievements underline the strong commitment and political will of ASEAN to continue working closely together in the ASEAN spirit of unity and solidarity, friendship and cooperation. This ASEAN spirit symbolizes the theme for this year under Cambodia’s Chairman of ASEAN, “ASEAN: One Community, One Destiny,” to reaffirm ASEAN’s undivided attention and political commitment to work, both collectively and individually, toward the successful realization of the ASEAN Community by 2015 and beyond as a cohesive family, living in political, security, economic and socio-cultural harmony, and is rules- based, peaceful and economically strong. However, he also warned ASEAN of challenges:” Despite the achievements, ASEAN still continues to face challenges both globally and regionally such as the fragility of the economic recovery of developed countries, coupled with prolonged severe debt crisis in Europe, the ongoing social and political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, high oil prices, food and energy security, climate change, natural disasters, terrorism and trans-national crime, so on and so forth. All these still pose a great threat to the sustainability of socio-economic development of ASEAN achieved over the last four decades and the success of our effort towards realizing a full ASEAN Community in 2015”.
To deal with the gap among ASEAN members, he said, it requires us to double our efforts to promote further growth and improve equitable distribution of the fruits of growth at both national and regional among member countries. Indeed, narrowing such development gaps is not only a pre-condition for ensuring ASEAN competitiveness and reducing poverty of our people but also for helping ASEAN achieve real regional integration and promoting its centrality in broader regional and world affairs.
Cambodian PM emphasized that the 20th ASEAN Leader, ASEAN Foreign Ministers have a crucial coordinating role to play in ASEAN community building, especially in addressing issues relating to political- security cooperation and external relations.
In this spirit, PM appeals to build the ASEAN Community by 2015 is the top priority for ASEAN and carry out measures to speed up the implementation of the Roadmap for the ASEAN Community and the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Work Plan II (2009-2015).
PM said that, maintaining regional peace and security is indispensable for ASEAN prosperity and inclusive growth in the entire ASEAN region. ASEAN should further demonstrate its ability and role as a driving force for the promotion of dialogue and cooperation on the political and security issues for the cause of peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
ASEAN should promote the effective functioning of existing instruments and mechanisms to ensure regional peace and security.
“The accession to the TAC by eighteen non-ASEAN Member States, plus the EU and the UK which will be acceded this year, will further reinforce the importance of the TAC and all principles enshrined therein. Moreover, we should give emphasis to the implementation of the DOC, including the eventual conclusion of "Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea,” said Cambodian PM.
Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
