ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with United Nations Secretary-General,

 

President of Sixty-ninth General Assembly Session

 

The ASEAN [Association of South-East Asian Nations] foreign ministers, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sam Kahamba Kutesa, today welcomed the progress made in cementing the partnership between ASEAN and the United Nations.

The ASEAN-UN Ministerial Meeting (AUMM) held at United Nations Headquarters is the third AUMM since the adoption of the Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Partnership between the ASEAN and the United Nations at the Fourth ASEAN-United Nations Summit in Bali in November 2011.  The ASEAN foreign ministers and the Secretary-General reviewed and welcomed progress in the implementation of the Joint Declaration, based on a Joint Report and recommendations submitted by the Secretariats of the ASEAN and the United Nations.  They also considered the suggestions of the ASEAN-United Nations Preparatory Senior Officials’ Meeting held on 24 September 2014 on promoting the effectiveness of ASEAN-United Nations cooperation by identifying the gaps in implementation of the Joint Declaration, formulating strategic, focused and coordinated programmes, and working together not only on the current issues but also on a new generation of issues such as integrated regional connectivity, countering radicalism and extremism, transnational crime, cybercrime and the spread of communicable diseases such as the Ebola virus.

The Meeting was chaired by U Wunna Maung Lwin, Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of Myanmar.  Other ASEAN foreign ministers and their representatives, as well as the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Le Luong Minh, were also in attendance.  The United Nations expressed support for ASEAN’s efforts towards the realization of the ASEAN Community by 2015 and ASEAN’s central role in evolving regional architecture.

An agreement was reached to strengthen joint activities more strategically through ensuring better coordination, stable and sustainable funding, and where appropriate, creating mechanisms to monitor the activities and generate greater impact for the two organizations and the peoples of ASEAN.  In this connection, ASEAN foreign ministers welcomed the establishment of a United Nations liaison presence in Jakarta.

Views were exchanged on regional and international issues, that are of common concern and interest to ASEAN and the UN, including among others, achieving the Millennium Development Goals; setting the development agenda beyond 2015; encouraging information-sharing and capacity-building in maritime security and safety cooperation; eradicating poverty and reducing inequalities; promotion of tolerance and moderation; conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding; countering terrorism and addressing transnational issues; promotion and protection of human rights; climate change; disaster management; and promoting green technology and sustainable development.  They encouraged the timely finalization of the ASEAN-United Nations Work Plan for 2015, which will chart out priorities for the ASEAN-United Nations Partnership in all the pillars of the Comprehensive Partnership and in maintaining and promoting regional and international peace, security and prosperity.

The United Nations Secretary-General and the ASEAN foreign ministers also looked forward to the upcoming Sixth ASEAN-United Nations Summit, which is scheduled to be held on 12 November 2014 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.

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For information media • not an official record