On October 2, Secretary of State John Kerry delivered remarks at the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council 30th Anniversary reception. The U.S.-ASEAN Business Council helps represent major segments of the U.S. private sector in promoting mutually beneficial trade and investment relationships between the United States and Southeast Asia. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is at the center of the region’s multilateral architecture and it plays a critical role in promoting both peace, prosperity, and also a regional integration throughout Asia.
ASEAN was formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to promote political and economic cooperation and regional stability. Brunei joined in 1984, shortly after its independence from the United Kingdom, and Vietnam joined ASEAN as its seventh member in 1995. Laos and Burma were admitted into full membership in July 1997 as ASEAN celebrated its 30th anniversary. Cambodia became ASEAN’s tenth member in 1999. The ASEAN Declaration in 1967, considered ASEAN’s founding document, formalized the principles of peace and cooperation to which ASEAN is dedicated. The ASEAN Charter entered into force on December 15, 2008. With the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN established its legal identity as an international organization and took a major step in its community-building process. The United States established its mission to ASEAN in 2010, which underscores our commitment to work with ASEAN to promote peace, stability, and inclusive economic growth in Southeast Asia.
In August 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry led the United States’ delegation to the U.S.-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. In this meeting, Secretary Kerry highlighted many of the activities the United States and ASEAN have jointly undertaken across ASEAN’s economic, socio-cultural, and political-security pillars.
In his remarks at the start of the U.S.-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, Secretary Kerry said: “We’ve already made significant progress on a host of issues, and I know that President Obama is looking forward to being able to visit in November when we have the East Asia Summit. ASEAN, in our judgment, is fundamental to being able to uphold a rules-based system in the Asia Pacific, and ensuring that all countries, big and small, have a say in how we work together in order to deal with shared challenges. That’s why we’re investing in ASEAN. We’re strengthening our people-to-people ties through President Obama’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, which continues to provide critical leadership in development and networking in ASEAN. And we’re supporting the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, which will sustain the prosperity of the ASEAN region and provide good-paying jobs for Americans also back home, and for people in each and every country that is sitting around this table and many who aren’t.”
As we look towards the East Asia Summit in November, what issues do you think are most important for the United States and Southeast Asia to address together?