BANGKOK, 14-15 January 2025 – The Ninth Meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group to Develop the ASCC Strategic Plan (AHWG) took place on 14-15 January 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Christina Yeo Ken Yin, Under Secretary of International Relations Division (Culture) at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia, and Hannah A. Giray-Carcido, Director of the Policy Development and Planning Bureau (PDPB), Department of Social Welfare and Development of the Philippines.
In her remarks, Dr. Christina Yeo Ken Yin commended the significant progress of the ASCC Strategic Plan, which now includes 112 provisionally agreed strategic measures covering both socio-cultural and cross-pillar areas. She also highlighted the intensive and inclusive stakeholder engagement initiatives undertaken by the AHWG, which have been instrumental in supporting the development of the ASCC Strategic Plan.
Hannah A. Giray-Carcido expressed optimism about the collective efforts of the AHWG in finalising the 2nd draft of the ASCC Strategic Plan. She noted that the draft represents the culmination of ASCC’s tireless efforts, enriched by the valuable input gathered through various stakeholder engagement initiatives, including the ASCC Survey.
The meeting reviewed and deliberated on key insights from stakeholder engagement activities as well as recommendations from ASCC and cross-pillar sectoral bodies. The meeting also exchanged views on the next steps, including timeline of the Strategic Plan’s developments and arrangements for the succeeding AHWG meetings, with the aim of finalising the ASCC Strategic Plan for the adoption by the ASEAN Leaders in May 2025.
Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, San Lwin, expressed his appreciation for the commitment of the AHWG in finalising the Strategic Plan. He underscored the importance of timely developing the results framework and the monitoring mechanisms to ensure the effective implementation of the plan.
This meeting is part of ongoing activities to support the development of the ASCC Post-2025 Strategic Plan Project funded by the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) 3.0.
