The 20th ASEAN Summit was held in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, from April 3 to April 4. Leaders of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia Nations) held profound discussions on how to speed up the process of ASEAN integration, promote regional communication, and deepen cooperation. The summit emphasized that the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will be established in 2015 to strengthen the cooperation between members, including mutual exchanges, natural disaster management and agricultural cooperation.
Under the theme “ASEAN: One Community, One Destiny”, the summit adopted four key documents including “Phnom Penh Declaration on ASEAN: One Community, One Destiny”, “Phnom Penh Agenda on ASEAN Community Building”, “ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Drug-Free ASEAN 2015” and “ASEAN Concept Paper on Global Movement of Moderates”. These documents reviewed the ASEAN’s achievements and challenges encountered in the past 45 years and put forward the major task the ASEAN will face in the future and set the future direction of the ASEAN integration.
Leaders attending the Phnom Penh summit highlighted the by-election in Myanmar and urged Western countries to lift economic sanctions on Myanmar.
During the summit, public opinion expressed expectations and pointed out that many difficulties also exist in realizing an ASEAN community by 2015. So they should pay attention to scientific arrangement and consider seriously. As Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen said at the opening ceremony, over the past 45 years, although the ASEAN made many achievements, ASEAN countries should speed up the process of integration, especially in strengthening regional financial cooperation, promoting economic growth, narrowing the gaps between regions, improving the overall competitiveness of the ASEAN and ability of weathering financial crisis. ASEAN countries also should work together to positively respond to challenges including unstable development of the world economy, high oil prices and the debt crisis.
ASEAN countries are planning to realize economic community, political security community and social cultural community. This is at the same time a precious opportunity and an important challenge for Asia’s economic and social development. Firstly, the social and economic development levels of the 10 members of the ASEAN are imbalanced. It is a very real problem of gradually integrating the economies. Secondly, in regional interconnection, especially in integration of infrastructures, countries will face a number of problems in transformation and renewal as well as in financial resources. Finally, ASEAN integration can not proceed without a stable outside environment and effective cooperation with East Asian countries in finance, technology and trade. During the process of ASEAN integration, the cooperative mechanisms of the 10+3 and 10 +1 of East Asia will further show their powerful cohesiveness and vitality which are hard to replace by any other forces from outside.
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