09 August 2016 – Kuca Dobrih Vesti (*House of Good News) - (The third most popular news portal in Serbia daily in Serbia), Culture Section
Article title: ASEAN DAY – Translation
ASEAN DAY
Belgrade – Expanding of cooperation with Serbia, as well as Serbia’s joining the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (ASEAN) is welcomed by the ASEAN member countries – the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Serbia Harry Richard James Kandou said yesterday.
At the celebration of the 49th Anniversary of ASEAN, Ambassador Kandou pledged for further strengthening of cooperation between the ASEAN and Serbia, taking new creative approaches, increased engagement of the private sector and fostering the ties in the fields of culture, tourism and economy.
The ASEAN Flag Raising Ceremony was organized by the Embassies of the ASEAN member countries in Belgrade – Indonesia, Republic of the Union of Myanmar and Malaysia. The ceremony, held at the compound of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia yesterday, was attended by high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Heads of Missions and representatives of the Asia-Pacific Embassies in Belgrade and friends of the ASEAN member countries.
The ASEAN was founded on 8th August 1967 in Bangkok, state capital of Thailand, when the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries founders – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand signed the ASEAN Declaration. Later, Brunai, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia have joined ASEAN.
It has been assessed that its foundation, the ASEAN has been successfully contributing to the economic prosperity, political stability and security, as well as sociological and cultural cohesion of the countries of Southeast Asia. Being developed further, the ASEAN, as of 31 December 2015, started to function as the economic community of its member states (AEC), which cherishes collective identity and joint representation of the ASEAN countries in the world, as well as improve their ability to swiftly adapt to new challenges, to recognize and use new opportunities. This contributed to the further asserting of the ASEAN as one of the engines of global economy.
Ambassador Kandou pointed out that during the last half of a century; ASEAN earned a prominent place for its pledging for peace, stability and progress. Recently, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the ASEAN member countries, in a joint statement, recently expressed determination to ensure that Southeast Asia and its neighbors remain a peaceful, stable and safe region and called on other countries to follow the principles and norms of the Association in those particular areas and act accordingly. Kandou, representative of the biggest ASEAN member country with highest population, further pointed out that the Association is a truly attractive economic partner. Measured by GDP, 10 ASEAN member countries combined are the 7th largest economy in world, with the prospect of becoming the 4th largest economy by 2050, after the People’s Republic of China, United States of America and India.
With the population of more than 622 million, ASEAN has a market of USD 2.6 trillion, is potentially bigger market than the EU or the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). McKinsey International Consulting Company has foreseen that the ASEAN will have 125 million middle-class families or around 400 million people by 2020. ASEAN is also one of the most open economic regions in the world with total exports amounting to USD 1.2 trillion. It makes nearly 54% of total ASEAN GDP and 7% of global exports, making it the fourth-largest exporting region in the world.
The Ambassador of Indonesia conveyed the expectation that ASEAN will continue to develop even faster with the introduction of AEC. That process would enable ASEAN to achieve a higher level of economic integration and sustainable and efficient integration into the global economy. This is the way for ASEAN to contribute to the progress of its member countries – Kandou ascertained. In this regard, the Ambassador continued, ASEAN is also supporting the development of economic cooperation with bilateral partners through its participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership’s (RCEP) trade negotiations.
RCEP should represent a trade mega-bloc with more than 3 billion people and the total GDP of USD 21 trillion, which makes 30 percent of the global trade. It would be comprised of the ASEAN member countries and the countries that have Free Trade Agreements with ASEAN (FTAs) such as Australia, People’s Republic of China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
These achievements and figures, as well as the central position of ASEAN in the regional landscape, show how politically wise would be for the countries interested in cooperation with the key players in Asia and beyond to develop their cooperation with the Association – Ambassador Kandou assessed. He also reminded about the actions of the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) forum, which coordinates the cooperation between the Association and east Asia countries such as the People’s Republic of China, Japan and South Korea; the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), official multilateral dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region comprised of 27 countries; the East Asia Summit, annual gathering of 18 leader of the countries from east, southeast and south Asia, the United States and the Russian Federation. All 10 member countries of ASEAN are also participants in biennial Asia-Europe meetings (ASEM).
“These developments show that ASEAN was able to swiftly adapt to new challenges, laying down new groundwork of diplomatic foundations, and are capable to produce creative policy responses.” – Ambassador Kandou concluded.
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Embassy of Malaysia in Belgrade wishes to thank the Kuca Dobrih Vesti for the media coverage
