The 22nd Meeting of the ASEAN Directors-General of Customs was held from 4 to 6 June 2013 in Singapore. The Meeting was chaired by Mr Fong Yong Kian, Director-General, Singapore Customs. All 10 ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat attended the Meeting.

Mr Peter Ong, Head of Civil Service and Permanent Secretary (Finance), Singapore, opened the Meeting on 4 June 2013. In his opening address, Mr Ong emphasised the important role of Customs in facilitating intra-ASEAN as well as international trade. He highlighted the important role played by ASEAN Customs administrations to support the realisation of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.

The 8th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth (AMMY VIII) was convened on 22 May 2013 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam.

WE, the Ministers Responsible for Youth of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter referred to as ASEAN), namely Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam:

HAVING gathered in Bandar Seri Begawan on 22 May 2013, for the Eighth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth (AMMY VIII);

1.    The Second Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), held on 30 May 2013 in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, was officially opened by H.E. Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and chaired by H.E. Cao Duc Phat, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, as Chair of COP in 2013. The Meeting was attended by Ministers in charge of disaster management or their representatives from all ASEAN Member States and the Secretary-General of ASEAN.

(Brussels, Belgium, 28 May 2013)

1.    The Third High Level Meeting of the Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy was held from 27-28 May 2013 at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. The Meeting, which was hosted by Dr. José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, was attended by  Mr. Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Ms. Andie Fong-Toy, Deputy Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Ambassador Albert Ramdin, Assistant Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Ambassador Mr. Hesham Youssef, Senior Adviser to the Secretary General of the League of Arab States (Arab League), Dr. George Mukundi Wachira, Coordinator, African Governance Architecture and Platform, African Union Commission (AU) and Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Secretary-General of International IDEA. The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Mr. Jan Eliasson, was the Keynote Speaker of the Meeting.

1. Officials of the 16 governments participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – the 10 ASEAN Member States and its Free Trade Agreement Partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand) – today met in Brunei Darussalam to start detailed negotiations aimed at concluding RCEP by the end of 2015.  

2. Consistent with the RCEP Leaders’ Joint Declaration on the Launch of Negotiations for the RCEP of 20 November 2012 and the Guiding Principles and Objectives for Negotiating the RCEP endorsed by RCEP Ministers on 30 August 2012, the RCEP negotiations will aim to:

1. We,  the   Leaders   of   Brunei   Darussalam,   Indonesia,   Malaysia   and   the Philippines, met for the 9th  BIMP-EAGA Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, on 25 April 2013, to review the progress of cooperation and to provide further direction in the pursuit of our shared vision of establishing BIMP-EAGA as a regional food basket and ecotourism destination through enhanced connectivity for trade and investment, whilst ensuring sustainable management of the environment. We reiterated the importance of sub-regional economic cooperation of BIMP-EAGA as a strategy in supporting the realisation of the ASEAN Community.

2. Trade  will  continue  to  be  one  of  the  main  cornerstones  of  BIMP-EAGA cooperation. As such, we are pleased to note that total trade value of BIMP-EAGA grew significantly by 70% from USD 100 billion in 2009 to USD 170 billion in 2011. Intra-EAGA trade represented nearly 25% of the total EAGA trade over the same period. We are also pleased to note the positive trend in foreign direct investment in BIMP-EAGA Member Countries have grown significantly by 129% from USD 24 billion in 2009 to USD 55 billion in 2011.

1. We, the Heads of State/Government of ASEAN Member States, gathered in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam for the 22nd ASEAN Summit on 24-25 April 2013. We had productive discussions under the theme “Our People, Our Future Together”, with an emphasis on the role of our people in ASEAN’s community building efforts and the future of ASEAN beyond 2015. We noted the importance of realising a truly ‘People-Centred’ ASEAN as a central element of a post-2015 vision of ASEAN.

Realising the ASEAN Community: Moving Forward

2. While encouraged by the progress in the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community, we agreed to further intensify our work to realise an ASEAN Community that is politically cohesive, economically integrated and socially responsible in order to take advantage of current and future opportunities, and effectively respond to regional and international challenges.

1. We, the Heads of State/Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (hereinafter referred to as CLMV) gathered for the 6th CLMV Summit on 12 March 2013 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Secretary General of ASEAN was also present at the Summit.

2. We recalled our initiatives and decisions adopted at the CLMV Summit in Vientiane, Lao PDR in 2004; in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2005; in Cebu, the Philippines in 2007; in Ha Noi, Viet Nam in 2008 and in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2010 and reiterated our commitment to enhancing the traditional relations of friendship, good neighbourliness and mutual benefits among the CLMV countries.

We, the Heads of State/Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, gathered in Vientiane, Lao PDR on 13 March 2013 for the 5th Summit of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (hereinafter referred to as ACMECS).

We reaffirmed our determination to strengthen the traditional relations of friendship, good neighbourliness and mutual benefits among the ACMECS Countries.

1. The ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and the EU Trade Commissioner held their Twelfth Consultations on 8 March 2013 in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. The 12th AEM-EU Trade Commissioner Consultations were co-chaired by H.E. Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng, Second Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Brunei Darussalam, and H.E. Karel De Gucht, the EU Trade Commissioner.

2. The Ministers and the EU Trade Commissioner exchanged views on current developments in their respective regions and noted that trade and investment between ASEAN and the EU continued to expand despite the world economic slowdown. Trade between ASEAN and the EU grew by 12.6%, amounting to US$234.8 billion in 2011. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment flow from the EU into ASEAN increased by 7.2% totalling US$18.2 billion. In 2012, the EU was ASEAN’s third largest trading partner and continues to be ASEAN’s biggest source of foreign direct investment.

The Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) express their deep concern about the effect on regional peace and stability caused by the recent report of an underground nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

ASEAN encourages the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to comply fully with its obligations to all relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions, namely 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009) and 2087 (2013), and to its commitments under the 19 September 2005 Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks.

1. The Twelfth Meeting of the ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea)Tourism Ministers was held on 21 January 2013 in Vientiane, Lao PDR, in conjunction with the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2013 and the Sixteenth Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers (M-ATM). The Meeting was preceded by the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) NTOs Meeting held on 19 January 2013 in Vientiane. The Meeting was jointly co-chaired by H.E. Prof. Dr. Bosengkham Vongdara, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of Lao PDR, H.E. Mr. Wang Zhifa, Vice-Chairman of China National Tourism Administration, H.E. Mr. Yosuke Tsuruho, Senior Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan and H.E. Mr. Kwak Youngjin, 1st Vice-Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Rep. of Korea

2. 2012 was a dynamic year for APT countries’ tourism. The growth of international visitor arrivals has been significant. Enhanced connectivity particularly air accessibility amongst APT countries has contributed to this positive growth of 11.9 compared to 2011. In 2012, APT countries received more than 98 million international visitor arrivals. Intra-APT countries remained as the main source markets with the share of 64.8 per cent compared to total international visitor arrivals in 2011.

1. The Fourth Meeting of ASEAN and India Tourism Ministers (4th M-ATM+India) was held on 21 January 2013 in Vientiane, Lao PDR, in conjunction with the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2013 (ATF 2013). The Meeting was jointly co-chaired by H.E. Prof. Dr. Bosengkham Vongdara, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lao PDR, and H.E. Dr. K. Chiranjeevi, Minister for Tourism, Government of India.

2. The Ministers were pleased to note the strengthened tourism exchange between ASEAN and India during the year 2012. In 2011, the number of tourist arrivals between ASEAN and India recorded steady growth, with the total number of tourist arrivals from India to ASEAN recording 2.7  million arrivals and ASEAN to India 521,755 arrivals in 2011.

1. The Sixteenth Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers (16th M-ATM) was held on 20 January 2013 in Vientiane, Lao PDR, in conjunction with the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2013 (ATF 2013). The Meeting was preceded by the Thirty-Seventh Meeting of ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) and other ASEAN NTOs meetings with Dialogue Partners. The Meeting was chaired by H.E. Professor Dr. Bosengkham Vongdara, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of Lao PDR, with Dato’ Dr. Ong Hong Peng, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, serving as Vice Chairperson.

2. The Ministers were pleased with the positive growth of international visitor arrivals into ASEAN in 2012. Preliminary figures submitted by all ASEAN Member States showed that ASEAN attracted more than 74.8 million visitors last year, posting a strong 10.14 per cent growth. Enhanced air connectivity, particularly the strong growth of Low-Cost Carriers within ASEAN has been a contributing factor in maintaining Intra-ASEAN travel as the major source market with the share of 46 per cent of total international arrivals, and this was followed by the influx of tourists from Asia with the share of 28 per cent.