JAKARTA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- ASEAN's dream of bringing prosperity to its people can only come true if its 10 members can complement each other through mutual cooperation based on their respective strengths and capabilities, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said here Wednesday.
Speaking before opening the 4th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leadership Forum, Kalla said that looking at the different stages of development and comparative advantages of ASEAN members, countries could do more to complement each other.
"We have a dream that ASEAN will be a better community and bring welfare to its people by embarking on more cooperation. However, we have different resources and capabilities, he told the forum participants, including ASEAN businesspeople, NGOs representatives and officials.
The forum was organized by the ASEAN Secretariat, the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Kalla said it was the job of the region's leaders to make complementary cooperation to benefit the people of ASEAN.