ASEAN and India Commit to Integrate in Trade and Investment
26 October 2006
The Third ASEAN-India Business Summit was officiated by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Honorable Prime Minister of India on 19 October 2004. The Event was attended by the Secretary General of ASEAN, ASEAN Ministers for Trade and Investment, ASEAN Business Leaders, and ASEAN journalists, and other representatives and observers from various business sectors.
Supported by the FICCI-Federal Chamber of Commerce of India and the CII, the 3rd India-ASEAN Business Summit called for intensification of commitments for integration between India and ASEAN in all sectors of trade and investment.
H.E. Dr. Manmohan Singh hopes that ASEAN and India should seek to take the existing ASEAN-India relationship to a higher level, where both can envision and Asian Economic Community, which encompasses ASEAN, China, Japan, Korea and India. A community such as this, would constitute an “arc of advantage”, across which there would be large scale movement of people, capital ideas, and creativity.
He also emphasized that ASEAN and India are working together towards completing of FTA negotiations and further hoped that the chambers of commerce will effectively disseminate information on the concessions so that trade and industry, particularly small and medium enterprises can take advantage of the benefits available under the scheme.
The Secretary General of ASEAN, Mr. Yogendra Kr. Modi, President of FICCI and Mr. Y C Deveshwar, President-elect CII also gave their respective opening speeches.
The 3rd India-ASEAN Business Summit convenes four sectoral areas simultanueously, namely, Financial Services, Tourism, Infrastructure and Biotechnology.
The 3rd India ASEAN Summit is also held in Chennai on 20-21 October 2004.
ASEAN Immigration Officials Make Visa Issues Easier for ASEAN Nationals
18 October 2004
The 8th Meeting of the ASEAN Directors-General of Immigration Departments and Heads of Consular Affairs Divisions of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (ASEAN DGICM) was held on 11-13 October 2004 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. All ASEAN Member Countries attended the Meeting and discussed measures to further accelerate the realization of the Work Programme to Implement the Plan of Action on Immigration Matters which were adopted by the 6th DGICM in 2002.
ASEAN officials gave a positive response to the progress on visa exemption for ASEAN nationals made by Member Countries in line with the Bali Concord II and the draft ASEAN Framework Agreement on Visa Exemption. In addition, they agreed to step up efforts in harmonizing the visa issuance procedures, where possible, for foreign nationals traveling into ASEAN countries, in complying with the Bali Concord II and the ASEAN Tourism Agreement. The full text of the Joint Press Statement issued by the above Meeting is available on the ASEAN Secretariat’s Website.
ASEAN Anti-Drugs Agencies Gather to Achieve Drug-Free ASEAN 2015
18 October 2004
The 25th Meeting for the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters was held on 20 -22 September 2004 in Makati City, Phillipines, discussing their commitment to combat drug abuses in the region to achieve the goal of Drug-Free ASEAN by 2015. The Meeting was attended by the ASEAN anti-drugs agencies, United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), ICPO-Interpol, Asia-Pacific Non-governmental Organization on Drug and Substance Abuse Prevention (ASPAC-NGO), ASEAN International Federation of Non-governmental Organization on Drug Abuse Prevention (ASEAN-IFNGO).
Anti-drugs officials discussed more on 4 specific areas through Working Group meetings on Preventive Education, Treatment and Rehabilitation, Law Enforcement, and Research respectively, to provide recommendation of programmes in order to enhance ASOD’s policy-making capacity in combating drugs in the region. The Meeting also reviewed its funding strategy policy, on-going projects and issues on the ASEAN-China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drugs.
ASEAN-China Will Manage Joint-Projects to Fight Drugs Abuse
18 October 2004
The 1st ASEAN-China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drugs (ACCORD) Joint Task Forces Meeting was held on 23rd September 2004, in Makati City, Philippines. The ASEAN anti-drugs agencies, China anti-drug agency and UNODC participated in the Meeting. The Meeting is part of the implementation of ACCORD programme.
ASEAN and China selected three regional project proposals on four different areas namely, Civic Awareness, Demand Reduction, Law Enforcement and Alternative Development, of which projects which will be funded by the ACCORD Account. ASEAN and China also evaluated the UNODC’s proposal on the 2nd ACCORD International Congress to review the implementation of the ACCORD Plan of Action and to redesign the ACCORD Four Pillars.
Fostering Friendship through ASEAN Quiz Competition
4 October 2004
The 2nd ASEAN Quiz, a competition that aims to promote ASEAN knowledge, friendship and teamwork among students in the region, was held on 27 September 2004 in Brunei Darussalam. Students from all ASEAN Member Countries took part in the finals.
The guest-of-honour was Brunei Darussalam’s Deputy Minister of Education, Pehin Dato Paduka Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, who presented the winners with trophies and money-prizes. In the individual category, Miguel Antonio Gracia from the Philippines was the champion, followed by Dayangku Nur’Asyura Salleh from Brunei Darussalam and Teo Lee Ken from Malaysia. In the group category, with a combination of five students from different ASEAN countries in each team, the first winner was Kaskul team, composed of Ye Win Htun (Myanmar), Tsang Wai Ching (Singapore), Dion Yoresin (Indonesia), Tisorn Songsersawas (Thailand) and Muhammad Ihsan Abdul Razak (Malaysia).
The Japan-ASEAN Exchange Programme (JAEP) and Japan-ASEAN General Exchange Fund (JAGEF) Management Committee Meetings
8 September 2004
The Japan-ASEAN Exchange Programme (JAEP) and Japan-ASEAN General Exchange Fund (JAGEF) Management Committee Meetings were held on 7-8 September2004 in the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta. The Meetings were attended by Malaysia, Japan and the ASEAN Secreariat.
The Meeting noted that since the last meetings held in April 2004, the JAEP has supported eight projects in the areas of culture, environment, science and technology, capacity building for women in ICT, and people-to-people contacts, which including youth and high-school student exchanges. The JAGEF has supported twenty six cooperation projects targeting the less developed members of ASEAN (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam) in areas such as capacity building in the energy and transport sectors, customs and investment under the Initiative for ASEAN Integration. The Meetings agreed to expedite the implementation of approved projects and projects that were awaiting approval from ASEAN and Japan to be funded by the JAEP Fund and JAGEF.
ASEAN and China Enhance Mass Media Cooperation
31 August 2004
The representatives of the major news media and information agencies from China and all the ASEAN countries successfully held the Second China-ASEAN Seminar on Mass Media Cooperation in Guangxi and Beijing from 26 to 31 August 2004, under the support of ASEAN and the People’s Republic of China. The seminar held discussions on “Coordinating Media Cooperation with the Development of the 10+1 Free Trade Area”. All the participants agreed to promote information exchange so as to enhance understanding between Chinese and ASEAN peoples. The participants also agreed to strengthen the coverage on China-ASEAN economic cooperation in line with the development of the Free Trade Area.
The China-ASEAN Seminar on Mass Media Cooperation is proposed to be held annually in China and ASEAN member countries alternately and to be participated by high-ranking governmental press officials, leaders of national media such as newspaper, news agency and broadcasting media from both China and ASEAN countries. The full text of the Joint Press Statement issued by the above Seminar is available on the ASEAN Secretariat Website.
The 9th ASEAN Senior Law Officials Meeting (ASLOM)
24 August 2004
The 9th ASEAN Senior Law Officials Meeting was held on 23-24 August 2004 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. The Meeting was chaired by Pg. Hjh. Zabaidah Pg. Hj. Kamaludin, Assistant Solicitor-General of Brunei Darussalam and was attended by Senior Law Officials of ASEAN Member Countries and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN.
The Meeting agreed that there can be continuing exchange of views and experiences between ASEAN Member Countries on the harmonization of intellectual property rights, trade laws, legal cooperation in alternative dispute resolutions, such as conciliation and mediation and on ways to streamline the procedures for the legalization of documents. The Meeting also decided to offer its assistance through the ASEAN Secretariat, by establishing an expert working group to provide inputs and on ways and means to devise legal frameworks to combat terrorism in ASEAN. The Joint Press Statement issued by the Meeting is available on the ASEAN Secretariat website.
ASEAN and China Strengthens Environmental Cooperation
20 August 2004
Senior Environment Officials from ASEAN and China exchanged information and experiences on key environmental issues and challenges as well as their respective legal and institutional frameworks on the environment at the China-ASEAN Environmental Policy Dialogue held on 17-20 August 2004 in Sanya, Hainan Province, China. The Dialogue also provided an excellent opportunity to further discuss potential collaborative activities on the ten priority areas of cooperation as agreed by the ASEAN Plus Three Environment Ministers at their inaugural meeting in 2002.
The Meeting agreed to initially develop specific programmes on two of the priority areas, namely public awareness and environmental education and, environmentally sound technologies and cleaner production through for example, joint training programmes. The Meeting was also keen to explore the establishment of an information exchange network between ASEAN and China.