The Phnom Penh Agenda was adopted at the 20th ASEAN Summit on Tuesday, focusing on speeding up the realization of the ASEAN Community by 2015.
With the theme "ASEAN: One Community, One Destiny", the two-day summit gathered heads of state or government from 10 ASEAN member states with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen as the chairman.
The agenda adopted on the first day of the summit emphasized that building the ASEAN Community and narrowing the development gaps shall remain high on the agenda of ASEAN to ensure the benefits of ASEAN integration are fully realized by its people.
The agenda encouraged ASEAN to double efforts to realize the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 by transforming the bloc into a single market and production base, a highly competitive region with equitable economic development and fully integrated into global economy.
In order to effectively and efficiently implement the Master Plan for ASEAN Connectivity adopted in 2010, the agenda said the ASEAN should work toward accelerating the operationalization and utilization of the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, with the support of the Asian Development Bank, through the participation of ASEAN partners, as well as more private sectors.
On the realization of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, the agenda mainly tasked the labor ministers of all member states to implement the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, starting by focusing on issues which are comfortable to all ASEAN countries in line with the national laws and policies.
While experiencing persistent occurrence of natural calamities, Southeast Asia needs to give priority to disaster management, by fully operating the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Centre to serve as a regional hub for information and knowledge sharing, as well as ASEAN's collective responses to the disaster affected areas, according to the agenda.
Regarding food security, which remains the main challenge for ASEAN, the agenda urged the member states to focus on increasing agricultural productivity and production. Recognizing the important role of women in regional development, the agenda also called for prioritizing the promotion and protection of the rights of women. |