JAKARTA, 3 June 2020 – ASEAN and Australia committed to strengthen their strategic partnership by refocusing cooperation on a number of priority areas to address challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This commitment was made during the 10th ASEAN-Australia Joint Cooperation Committee (AA-JCC) Meeting held via video conference on 2 June.
Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all countries across the region, ASEAN and Australia recognised the need to boost cooperation to help minimise the human and social costs of COVID-19 and to support economic recovery by focusing on health security and in building a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.
The meeting also reaffirmed the need to promote measures to support a rules-based multilateral trading system and to maintain vital supply chains including through the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP), the upgrade of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) agreement, as well as support for the World Trade Organisation reform.
During the meeting, both sides reviewed cooperation under the ASEAN-Australia Plan of Action (2015-2019) and underscored that the full implementation of the Plan of Action is a testimony to the depth and breadth of ASEAN-Australia strategic relations.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to further enhance cooperation through the effective implementation of the new ASEAN-Australia Plan of Action (2020-2024).
In addition, the Ambassador-level meeting exchanged views on the future direction of ASEAN-Australia Dialogue Relations and noted the importance of enhancing cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as health security, cybersecurity, counter-terrorism, maritime cooperation, and women, peace and security agenda.
Human rights, trade and investment through the AANZFTA, digital trade standards, infrastructure and supply chain, smart cities, people-to-people links, education, technical and vocational education and training, connectivity and the Initiative for ASEAN Integration are also areas of cooperation that will be further enhanced.
The meeting looked forward to the convening of an ad hoc ASEAN-Australia Foreign Ministers’ video conference on COVID-19 in the near future.
The AA-JCC meeting was co-chaired by Amb. Kamsiah Kamaruddin, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to ASEAN and Amb. Jane Duke, Australian Ambassador to ASEAN. It was participated in by the Permanent Representatives to ASEAN or their representatives, officials from the ASEAN Member States and Australian Mission to ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat.
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined ASEAN on 7 January 1984, followed by Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.Menu - WHAT WE DO
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The rodmap for an ASEAN Community (2009-2015) was declared by the leaders in 2009. The ASEAN Community, anchored on three community pillars: Political-Security Community, Economic Community, Socio-Cultural Community was launched in 2015. The ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together was introduced in 2015 as a Post-2015 Vision. It comprises the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, the ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint 2025, the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025 and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025
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