Joint United Nations-Association of Southeast AsianNations (UN-ASEAN) Press Statement

 

Following is the joint United Nations-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) press statement following the UN-ASEAN ministerial-level meeting in New York, 24 September:

The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the member States of ASEAN, with Pham Gia Khiem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam, serving as Chairman of ASEAN, and with the participation of Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Joseph Deiss, President of the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly and Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, met at United Nations Headquarters on 24 September.  This meeting is an annual event which provides an opportunity for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers, the General Assembly President and the Secretary-General of the United Nations to exchange views on matters of mutual interest.  As such, it represents the growing close cooperation between regional organizations and the United Nations.

The meeting was briefed by the ASEAN Chair on developments in ASEAN in relation to the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and the process of building the ASEAN Community by 2015.

The meeting was briefed by the United Nations Secretary-General on the Organization’s global and regional priorities, and by the President of the General Assembly on the priorities of the United Nations during this session of the General Assembly.

The meeting stressed the importance of continuing to nurture and strengthen an effective partnership between ASEAN and the United Nations, which enables both organizations to tackle challenges facing South-East Asia and the world.  The participants recalled that the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding on ASEAN-United Nations cooperation provided a sound framework for increased cooperation between ASEAN and the United Nations in various areas, and expressed their commitment to continuing to carry forward this cooperation in the context of ASEAN’s enhanced role in order to address together global and regional issues. 

The participants held constructive and extensive discussions on a number of key issues of common concern on the agenda of the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly, such as the Millennium Development Goals and challenges facing the region.

The meeting discussed the preparations for the third ASEAN-UN summit to take place in Hanoi on 29 October, and the key issues to be discussed at the summit.  The participants called on the Secretariats of ASEAN and the United Nations to continue to develop a strategy for enhancing cooperation, which they hoped could be given further direction by the Hanoi summit.

The meeting agreed to hold another ASEAN-UN ministerial meeting on the margins of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.

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For information media • not an official record