JAKARTA, 13 April 2022 – The 14th Coordinating Conference for the ASEAN Political-Security Community (ASCCO) took place yesterday via videoconference. First held in 2006, ASCCO has become a regular platform for reviewing and discussing the implementation of the ASEAN political security cooperation agenda and collaboration with external partners.
Noting the progress made in the implementation of the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) Blueprint 2025, Michael Tene, Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Political-Security Community, who chaired the conference, acknowledged that having an effective platform to exchange views and updates is imperative to drive the ASEAN Community-building process.
During the conference, APSC sectoral bodies as well as entities associated with the APSC Pillar exchanged views and provided updates on each other’s work on the implementation of the APSC Blueprint. Taking off from recommendations put forth by the ASEAN Secretariat, they likewise shared their respective suggestions on addressing the remaining action lines of the APSC Blueprint 2025.
The conference also reviewed the progress of cooperation regarding cross-pillar issues, such as ASEAN’s initiatives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ASEAN Enabling Master Plan 2025 and the ASEAN Consolidated Strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The participants received updates on the work on ASEAN Community’s Post-2025 Vision which commenced with the 1st Meeting of the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Community’s Post-2025 Vision on 31 March – 1 April 2022 at the ASEAN Secretariat. Recent developments on ASEAN’s external relations, such as inclusion of the United Kingdom as a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN as well as increasing number of countries reaching out to establish formal partnership with ASEAN were likewise shared to the participants. The commencement of the first ASEAN Junior Fellowship Programme at the ASEAN Secretariat later this year was also welcomed
