ASEAN's Global Vision

An excerpt from the final communiqué of the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial, which took place last week in Laos

We stressed the importance of strengthening ASEAN's unity and centrality in our engagement with external partners, including through ASEAN-led mechanisms such as ASEAN Plus One, ASEAN Plus Three (APT), the East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and ADMM-Plus, in order to build mutual trust and strengthen an open climate and an open, transparent, resilient, inclusive, and rules-based regional architecture, with ASEAN at the center, upholding international law. We stressed the need to promote an environment conducive to peace, stability and prosperous development for all, ensuring a culture of dialogue and cooperation rather than rivalry, strengthening mutual trust and respect for international law. We reaffirmed that ASEAN will act in accordance with ASEAN's centrality in external political, economic, social and cultural relations by remaining actively engaged, outward-oriented, inclusive and non-discriminatory, in line with the ASEAN Charter. We noted with satisfaction the encouraging progress in ASEAN's relations with our Dialogue Partners, Sectoral Dialogue Partners, and Development Partners through existing frameworks and the implementation of Action Plans, Practical Cooperation Areas, and Development Cooperation Programs based on mutual interest and mutual benefit in contributing to ASEAN Community building and development cooperation efforts. We have agreed to further strengthen partnerships and cooperation with our partners thus contributing to our proactive response to regional and global challenges and opportunities. We are committed to fostering an outward-oriented community that supports the region's sustainable growth and resilience through inclusive cooperation and collaboration with external partners. We noted the growing interest from countries and regional organizations outside the region to develop stronger substantive collaboration and cooperation with ASEAN, including through requests for formal partnerships. We affirmed the importance of pursuing an outward-oriented policy and agreed on the need to reach out to new potential external partners on the basis of shared interest, constructive engagement and mutual benefit. We noted the growing global relevance of ASEAN and its unique “convening” power in the context of the emerging multipolar global architecture.

Full communiqué here