Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, delivered pre-recorded Opening Remarks at the 2025 ASEAN ICT Forum on Child Online Protection, held in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia, on 18-19 November 2025. Under the theme “Empowering Children and Strengthening ASEAN’s Commitment to a Safer Digital Future,” this year’s Forum reaffirmed ASEAN’s shared commitment to protecting children from all forms of harm in the digital space. Organised by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development of Malaysia and Ministry of Communications of Malaysia, together with the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) Malaysia and Thailand, with the support of Australia and UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, the event provided opportunities to strengthen collaborations in innovating solutions and integrating actions with active involvement of the young people and the private sector, particularly the ICT and communication industries toward a secure, people-centred digital future.
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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
ASEAN organs always strive to achieve ASEAN’s goals and objectives, the Secretary-General of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat shall be functioned as coordinating Secretariat to help facilitate effective decision-making withing and amongst ASEAN bodies. In addition, each Member State shall appoint a Permanent Representative to liaise with Secretary-General of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat
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ASEAN shall develop friendly relations and mutually beneficial dialogues, cooperation and partnerships with countries and sub-regional, regional and international organisations and institutions. This includes external partners, ASEAN entities, human rights bodies, non-ASEAN Member States Ambassadors to ASEAN, ASEAN committees in third countries and international organisations, as well as international / regional organisations.
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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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