LONDON, 20 March 2024 –ASEAN and the UK reaffirmed their commitment to intensify its Dialogue Partnership and amplify collaboration in mutually beneficial areas at the Third ASEAN-UK Senior Officials’ Meeting (AUKSOM) in London.
The Senior Officials exchanged views on the developments in ASEAN and in the UK, and reviewed cooperation between both sides across three ASEAN Community Pillars. Both sides noted the positive progress in implementing the ASEAN-United Kingdom Plan of Action (POA) (2022-2026) and look forward to further enhancing and supplementing the partnership in areas of mutual interest together with ASEAN’s needs and priorities ASEAN Community post-2025.
ASEAN welcomed the UK’s five flagship programmes to be implemented in the coming years namely, (i) Supporting the Advancement of Girls Education (SAGE); (ii) ASEAN-UK Economic Integration Programme (EIP); (iii) ASEAN-UK Green Transition Fund (GTF); (iv) ASEAN-UK Health Security Partnership (HSP); and (v) ASEAN-UK Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Programme. In addition, ASEAN also welcomed theUK’s plan to launch the ASEAN Chevening Scholarships in July this year.
The Senior Officials agreed on the need to strengthen connectivity between ASEAN and the UK, and to this end ASEAN welcomed the UK’s proposal for an ASEAN-UK Joint Statement on Connectivity to be adopted at the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference Plus One Session with the UK in July this year.
To further expand ASEAN-UK cooperation, both sides underscored areas such as maritime cooperation; transnational crime; cyber security; trade and investment; micro, small and medium Enterprises (MSMEs); digital transformation and inclusivity; sustainable development and decarbonisation; environment and climate change; blue economy; green and sustainable finance; people-to-people contacts; education; health; connectivity; narrowing development gap; smart cities and infrastructure.
The Senior Officials also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest and concern, including regional economic developments and multilateral trading systems, the importance of maintaining ASEAN’s Centrality in the evolving regional architecture, the situation in the South China Sea, developments in Myanmar, as well as the situations in Ukraine and the Middle East. Additionally, ASEAN and the UK acknowledged the need to cultivate cooperation within the four areas identified under the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific that are inclusive, mutually beneficial, and directed towards the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.
The Third AUKSOM was co-chaired by Johariah Wahab, Permanent Secretary and SOM Leader of Brunei Darussalam and Owen Jenkins CMG, Director-General, Indo-Pacific at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the UK and SOM Leader of the UK. Senior officials of ASEAN Member States or their representatives and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Political-Security Community and their respective delegations were also in attendance. Timor-Leste attended the meeting as an Observer.
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