Forming a community - a new step in the development of ASEAN

(Baonghean.vn) - Today, December 31, 2015, the ASEAN Community was officially formed with the Kuala Lumpur Declaration signed on November 22, 2015 at the 27th ASEAN Summit.

This event marks an important milestone in the development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations after nearly 50 years of formation and development, the result of the efforts of all members in implementing the roadmap for building the ASEAN Community (2009-2015), marking a strategic shift and the beginning of a new development stage at a higher level for ASEAN: from an Association to a Community of Nations.

The ASEAN Community was officially formed on December 31, 2015.

What is ASEAN Community?

In terms of structure, the ASEAN Community is an intergovernmental cooperative organization, with sovereign equality among nations; making decisions based on the principle of consensus and unanimity. The legal basis of the ASEAN Community is the ASEAN Charter signed in 2007, effective from December 2008.

The apparatus of the AC is organized on the basis of the ASEAN Charter with the following bodies: ASEAN Summit (the highest authority); ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) (comprising ASEAN Foreign Ministers); ASEAN Community Councils; Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR); ASEAN Secretary General and Secretariat; ASEAN National Secretariat (located within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of member countries).

ASEAN leaders signed the "Kuala Lumpur Declaration" establishing the ASEAN Community. (Source: THX/TTXVN)

Regarding cooperation content, the ASEAN Community cooperates comprehensively and extensively in many fields, revolving around three pillars: the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC).

The APSC is a community that operates according to common values ​​and norms; is united, peaceful and self-reliant, and is responsible for ensuring comprehensive security; and is also a dynamic community, ready to expand cooperative relations with friendly countries and partners.

In addition to the ASEAN Charter, APSC operates on the basis of the Association's available mechanisms and tools on political-security cooperation, which are normative institutions in ASEAN's regional conduct, such as: the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ), the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), the East Asia Summit (EAS) Declaration on the principles of mutually beneficial relations in the region, etc.

The AEC pillar is a regional economic integration process with four goals: (1) A single market and production base, where goods, services, investment and labor flow freely; (2) A stable, prosperous and highly competitive ASEAN economic region; (3) Balanced economic development and (4) Integration into the global economy.

To achieve these four goals, AEC has been and will continue to implement solutions such as: Removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers; facilitating trade, harmonizing product standards (conformity) and regulations; resolving customs and import-export procedures more quickly; perfecting rules of origin, facilitating services and investment, and enhancing the development of ASEAN capital markets.

Participating in the goals and measures of AEC are a series of Agreements, Agreements, Declarations... between ASEAN countries and between ASEAN and its partners, of which the three most important Agreements are: ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA); ASEAN Framework Agreement on Trade in Services (AFAS); ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA).

With a market of more than 600 million people and a GDP of about 2,500 USD, AEC promises to become an increasingly dynamic and developing economic region.

The ASCC pillar is a socio-cultural cooperation framework that focuses on ensuring the promotion of equality, social justice, social security, sustainable environmental development and promoting community awareness. The ASCC is people-centered, moving towards building a common identity, improving living standards and welfare for the people.

Asserting a central role in regional structures

By implementing the contents of the 2015 Roadmap for Community Building, ASEAN has increasingly promoted and affirmed its central role in regional structures.

ASEAN is a leading factor in ensuring peace, cooperation and development in Southeast Asia, and an indispensable partner of all major countries and international organizations. That role will be further enhanced when the ASEAN Community is officially formed and operates as a complete entity in terms of politics - security, economy and culture - society.

ASEAN flag raising ceremony on the occasion of the establishment of the ASEAN Community. Photo: PL TP.HCM Newspaper

In addition to intra-bloc cooperation, cooperation between ASEAN and its partners has been very active, through frameworks such as: ASEAN+3 Summit (including 10 ASEAN countries and 3 countries: China, Japan, South Korea); East Asia Summit (EAS: including ASEAN+3 and 5 countries: the United States, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia); ASEAN+1 Summit with each partner: China, South Korea, Japan, the United States, India and the United Nations...

In the context of major countries all making strategic adjustments to the Asia-Pacific region, in which Southeast Asia is a focal point, in recent years, ASEAN has become one of the most vibrant regional forums globally, when each of its conferences, whether at the ministerial or high-level, is attended by most representatives of dialogue partners with deep and practical interest.

With 11 dialogue partners, including 7 strategic partners (China, Japan, South Korea, India, New Zealand, Australia, the US), 4 comprehensive partners (Russia, EU, Canada, the United Nations), and 83 countries sending ambassadors to ASEAN, the ASEAN Community has become one of the most successful regional cooperation organizations today./.

Bao Ngan