Database
on Basic Documents of Japan-ASEAN Relations
Department of
Advanced Social and International Studies,
Fourth ASEAN
1. We, the Heads of State and Government of ASEAN, are encouraged by the
achievements of ASEAN in the last twenty-five years, and are convinced that
ASEAN cooperation remains vital to the well-being of our peoples.
2. Having reviewed the profound international political and economic
changes that have occurred since the end of the Cold War and considered their
implications for ASEAN, we declare that:
-ASEAN shall move towards a higher plane of political and economic
cooperation to secure regional peace and prosperity;
-ASEAN shall constantly seek to safeguard its collective interests in
response to the formation of large and powerful economic groupings among the
developed countries, in particular through the promotion of an
open international economic regime and by stimulating economic cooperation in
the region;
-ASEAN shall seek avenues to engage member states in new areas of
cooperation in security matters; and
-ASEAN shall forge a closer relationship based on friendship and
cooperation with the Indochinese countries, following the settlement on
POLlTICAL AND SECURITY
COOPERATION
3. In the field of political and security cooperation, we have agreed
that:
-ASEAN welcomes accession by all countries in Southeast Asia to the
Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, which will provide a common
framework for wider regional cooperation embracing the whole of
-ASEAN will also seek the cognizance of the United Nations for the Treaty
through such means as an appropriate Resolution. This will signify ASEAN's
commitment to the centrality of the UN role in the maintenance of international
peace and security as well as promoting cooperation for socio-economic
development;
-ASEAN could use established fora to promote
external dialogues on enhancing security in the region as well as intra-ASEAN
dialogues on ASEAN security cooperation (such as the regional security seminars
held in Manila and Bangkok in 1991, and the workshops on the South China Sea
held in Bali in 1990 and Bandung in 1991), taking
full cognizance of the Declaration of ASEAN Concord. To enhance this effort,
ASEAN should intensify its external dialogues in political and security matters
by using the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conferences (PMC);
-ASEAN has made major strides in building cooperative ties with states of
the Asia-Pacific region and shall continue to accord them a high priority;
-ASEAN will seek to realise the Zone of Peace,
Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) and a Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone
(SEANWFZ) in consultation with friendly countries, taking into account changing
circumstances;
-ASEAN will closely cooperate with the United Nations and the
international community in ensuring the full implementation of the Peace
Agreements signed in
-ASEAN will play an active part in international programmes
for the reconstruction of
4. Conscious of the central role of the United Nations in the post-Cold
War world, we agree that:
-The proposed Summit of members of the United Nations Security Council
should help shape the United Nations' role for the promotion of a more
equitable international political and economic order, and for the democratisation of the United Nations' decision-making
processes in order to make the organization truly effective in meeting its
obligations;
-ASEAN will participate actively in efforts to ensure that the United
Nations is a key instrument for maintaining international peace and security;
and
-ASEAN will encourage all efforts to strengthen the United Nations,
including its role and capabilities in peacekeeping and peacemaking, in
accordance with the United Nations Charter.
DIRECTIONS IN ASEAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION
5. In the field of economic cooperation, we have agreed that:
-To further accelerate joint efforts in enhancing intra-ASEAN economic
cooperation, ASEAN shall adopt appropriate new economic measures as contained
in the Framework Agreement on Enhancing ASEAN Economic Cooperation directed
towards sustaining ASEAN economic growth and development which are essential to
the stability and prosperity of the region;
-ASEAN shall establish the ASEAN Free Trade Area using the Common
Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme as the main mechanism within a time
frame of 15 years beginning 1 January 1993 with the ultimate effective tariffs
ranging from 0% to 5%. ASEAN member states have identified the following
fifteen groups of products to be included in the CEPT Scheme for accelerated
tariff reductions:
・ vegetable oils
・ cement
・ chemicals
・ pharmaceuticals
・ fertiliser
・ plastics
・ rubber products
・ leather products
・ pulp
・ textiles
・ ceramic and glass products
・ gems and jewellery
・ copper cathodes
・ electronics
・ wooden and rattan furniture
-ASEAN shall increase investments, industrial linkages and complementarity by adopting new and innovative measures, as
well as strengthening existing arrangements in ASEAN and providing flexibility
for new forms of industrial cooperation;
-ASEAN shall strengthen and develop further cooperation in the field of
capital markets, and shall encourage and facilitate free movement of capital
and other financial resources;
-ASEAN shall further enhance regional cooperation to provide safe,
efficient and innovative transportation and communications infrastructure
network;
-ASEAN shall also continue to improve and develop the intra-country
postal and telecommunications system to provide cost-effective, high quality
and customer-oriented services;
-ASEAN shall adopt joint efforts to strengthen trade promotion and
negotiations on ASEAN agricultural products in order to enhance ASEAN's
competitive posture, and to sustain the expansion of ASEAN agricultural exports
in the international markets;
-ASEAN acknowledges that sub-regional arrangements among themselves, or between ASEAN member states and non-ASEAN
economies could complement overall ASEAN economic cooperation;
-ASEAN recognises the importance of
strengthening and/or establishing cooperation with other countries, regional/multilateral
economic organisations, as well as Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) and an East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC). With
regard to APEC, ASEAN attaches importance to APEC's
fundamental objective of sustaining the growth and dynamism of the Asia-Pacific
region. With respect to an EAEC, ASEAN recognises
that consultations on issues of common concern among East Asian economies, as
and when the need arises, could contribute to expanding cooperation among the
region's economies, and the promotion of an open and free global trading
system;
-Further, recognising the importance of
non-tariff and non-border areas of cooperation to complement tariff liberalisation in increasing regional trade and investment,
ASEAN shall further explore cooperation in these areas with a view to making
recommendations to the Fifth ASEAN Summit;
-ASEAN shall continue with its concerted efforts in the promotion of
tourism, particularly in making the Visit ASEAN Year 1992 a success;
-ASEAN shall continue to step up cooperation in other economic-related
areas, such as science and technology transfer and human resource development;
-ASEAN shall enhance cooperation and collective action in international
and inter-regional fora as well as in international organisations and regional groupings. ASEAN shall also
continue to enhance relations with its dialogue partners and other
producing/consuming countries towards the advancement of the commodity sector
in the region and in addressing international commodity issues;
-ASEAN recognises that sustained economic
growth require considerable inputs of energy. As member states continue to industrialise and strengthen their industrial base, ASEAN
shall focus and strengthen cooperation in energy security, conservation and the
search for alternative fuels;
-ASEAN recognises the complementarity
of trade and investment opportunities and therefore encourages, among others,
increased cooperation and exchanges among the ASEAN private sectors, and the
consideration of appropriate policies for greater intra-ASEAN investments;
-ASEAN shall continue to uphold the principles of free and open trade
embodied in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and work towards
maintaining and strengthening an open multilateral trading system;
-ASEAN shall work collectively to ensure that the Uruguay Round addresses
the key concerns and interests of the ASEAN economies, and adopt a pragmatic
and realistic approach, in using the Draft Final Text as at 20 December 1991 as
a reasonable basis for completing negotiations; and
-ASEAN strongly urges major trading countries to settle their differences
on agriculture and other areas, and likewise use the Draft Final Text to work
towards an early and successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round.
REVIEW OF ASEAN'S EXTERNAL RELATIONS
6. In reviewing ASEAN's external relations, we have agreed that:
-ASEAN, as part of an increasingly interdependent world, should intensify
cooperative relationships with its Dialogue partners, namely Australia, Canada,
the European Community, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and the
United States, and engage in consultative relationships with interested
non-Dialogue countries and international organizations; and
-While ASEAN's cooperative relationships with the Dialogue partners have
made significant progress, ASEAN should strengthen existing dialogue mechanisms
and develop new ones where necessary for the enhancement of economic relations
with these countries, especially ASEAN's major economic partners.
ASEAN FUNCTIONAL COOPERATION
7. In the field of functional cooperation, we have agreed that:
-The ASEAN member countries shall continue to enhance awareness of ASEAN
among the people in the region through the expansion of ASEAN Studies as part
of Southeast Asian Studies in the school and university curricula and the
introduction of ASEAN student exchange programmes at
the secondary and tertiary levels of education;
-ASEAN should help hasten the development of a regional identity and
solidarity, and promote human resource development by considering ways to
further strengthen the existing network of the leading universities and
institutions of higher learning in the ASEAN region with a view to ultimately
establishing an ASEAN University based on this expanded network;
-ASEAN functional cooperation shall be designed for a wider involvement
and increased participation by women in the development of the ASEAN countries
in order to meet their needs and aspirations. This cooperation shall also
extend to the development of children to realise
their full potential;
-The ASEAN member countries shall continue to play an active part in
protecting the environment by continuing to cooperate in promoting the
principle of sustainable development and integrating it into all aspects of
development;
-ASEAN member countries should continue to enhance environmental
cooperation, particularly in issues of transboundary
pollution, natural disasters, forest fires and in
addressing the anti-tropical timber campaign;
-The developed countries should commit themselves to assist developing
countries by providing them new and additional financial resources as well as
the transfer of, and access to environmentally sound technology on concessional and preferential terms;
-The developed countries should also help to maintain an international
environment supportive of economic growth and development;
-ASEAN looks forward to seeing these commitments reflected in the outcome
of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 at
-As Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) play an important role in
social development, ASEAN shall encourage the exchange of information among
NGOs in the region and help expand their participation in intra-ASEAN
functional cooperation;
-ASEAN shall intensify its cooperation in overcoming the serious problem
of drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking at the national, regional and
international levels; and
-ASEAN shall make a coordinated effort in curbing the spread of AIDS by
exchanging information on AIDS, particularly in the formulation and
implementation of policies and programmes against the
deadly disease.
RESTRUCTURING OF ASEAN INSTITUTIONS
8. To strengthen ASEAN, we have agreed that:
-ASEAN Heads of Government shall meet formally every three years with
informal meetings in between;
-The ASEAN organizational structure, especially the ASEAN Secretariat,
shall be streamlined and strengthened with more resources;
-The Secretary-General of the ASEAN Secretariat shall be redesignated as the Secretary-General of ASEAN with an
enlarged mandate to initiate, advise, coordinate and
implement ASEAN activities;
-The Secretary-General of ASEAN shall be appointed on merit and accorded
ministerial status;
-The professional staff of the ASEAN Secretariat be appointed on the
principle of open recruitment and based on a quota system to ensure
representation of all ASEAN countries in the Secretariat;
-The five present ASEAN Economic Committees be dissolved and the Senior
Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) be tasked to handle all aspects of ASEAN
economic cooperation; and
-A ministerial-level Council be established to
supervise, coordinate and review the implementation of the Agreement on the
Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA).
DONE in
For
sgd
HAJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH
Sultan of
For the
sgd
SOEHARTO
President
For
sgd
DR MAHAiklR BIN MOHAMAD
Prime Minister
For the Republic of the
sgd
CORAZON C AQUINO
President
For the
sgd
GOH CHOK TONG
Prime Minister
For the
sgd
ANAND PANYARACHUN
Prime Minister