HUA HIN, Thailand, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- "Enhancing connectivity, empowering peoples" serves as an official over-arching theme of all summit meetings -p ASEAN, ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3 and the East Asia Summit (EAS), Thai officials said on Thursday.
Around 3,000 delegates and members of the press are expected to attend the upcoming 15th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits which will be held here from Oct. 23-25, said Ms. Vimon Kidchob, Director-General, Department of Information and Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in a joint press conference with Mr. Vitavas Srivihok, Director-General of the Department of ASEAN Affairs.
Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is expected to focus on issues relating to his vision of ASEAN as a Community of Connectivity, a Community of Peoples. On connectivity, Thailand attaches importance not only to connectivity in terms of infrastructure and trade, but also movement of people, IT, knowledge, education and culture. Also to be raised are challenges that the region has to face, including food and energy security, climate change, pandemics, natural disasters and the financial and economic crisis. These issues are all expected to feature prominently in the leaders' discussions.
A number of concrete outcomes are expected after the Summits, noted Mr. Srivihok. These include: the 120 billion U.S dollars Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM), to be launched by early next year, contributing to regional economic recovery efforts and financial liquidity; and the development of the ASEAN+3 Emergency Rice Reserve with the aim of early operationalization under a permanent office.
During the Summits, the leaders will also follow up on the progress of China's initiatives to promote infrastructure development in the ASEAN, including the 10 billion U.S. dollars China-ASEAN Fund on Investment Cooperation and the 15 billion U.S. dollars Commercial Credit, including 1.7 billion U.S. dollars Preferential Loans; cooperation with Japan to deal with global warming and efficient use of energy as well as on closing the developing gap among ASEAN member countries; cooperation with the Republic of Korea on the latter's "Low Carbon Green Growth" initiative for dealing with climate change and maintaining sustainable development, including South Korea's commitment in allocating 100 million U.S. dollars from its initiative on "East Asia Climate Partnership" to support ASEAN member countries to better respond to climate change; cooperation with India towards achieving 70 billion U.S. dollars trade value within two years; as well as expediting implementation of various Free Trade Areas (FTAs) between the ASEAN and its dialogue partners, including China, Japan, South Korea and India.
The ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, as well as the host, Thailand, while the six dialogue partners are China, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
Highlights for the Summits include the inauguration of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, the adoption of a declaration on climate change to reaffirm the ASEAN position in the negotiation under the UN Frameworks Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as the adoption of a declaration on education cooperation to achieve an ASEAN Community.
Documents to be signed by ministers, among others, are: Agreement on Privilege and Immunities of ASEAN; Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing the ASEAN-China Center; Memorandum of Understanding between ASEAN and China on Cooperation in the Field of Intellectual Property; Memorandum of Understanding between ASEAN and China on Strengthening Cooperation in the Field of Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment.
