Database on Basic Documents of Japan-ASEAN Relations

Department of Advanced Social and International Studies, University of Tokyo

Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the

East Asia Summit

KUALA LUMPUR DECLARATION ON THE EAST ASIA SUMMIT

Kuala Lumpur, 14 December 2005

WE, the Heads of State/Government of the Member Countries of the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, People's Republic of China, Republic

of India, Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand, on the occasion of the

historic First East Asia Summit on 14 December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;

RECALLING the decision of the 10th ASEAN Summit and supported by the 8th ASEAN

Plus Three Summit held on 29 November 2004 in Vientiane, Lao PDR, to convene the

First East Asia Summit in Malaysia in 2005;

REITERATING our commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the

United Nations, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and other

recognized principles of international law;

ACKNOWLEDGING that in a rapidly changing international environment, our

economies and societies have become increasingly interlinked and interdependent;

REALISING the increasing range of challenges facing the world and the need for

concerted regional and global efforts to respond to these challenges;

RECOGNISING our shared interests in achieving peace, security and prosperity in

East Asia and the world at large;

DESIROUS of creating a peaceful environment by further enhancing cooperation and

strengthening the existing bonds of friendship among our countries in keeping

with the principles of equality, partnership, consultation and consensus thereby

contributing to peace, security and economic prosperity in this region and the

world at large;

CONVINCED of the importance of strengthening bilateral and multilateral

interactions and cooperation among the participating countries of the East Asia

Summit and the world at large on issues of common interest and concern in order

to enhance peace and economic prosperity;

REITERATING the conviction that the effective functioning of multilateral

systems will continue to be indispensable for advancing economic development;

RECOGNISING that this region of today is a source of dynamism for the world

economy;

SHARING the view that the East Asia Summit could play a significant role in

community building in this region;

FURTHER RECOGNISING the need to support efforts to build a strong ASEAN

Community which will serve as a solid foundation for our common peace and

prosperity;

DO HEREBY DECLARE:

FIRST, that we have established the East Asia Summit as a forum for dialogue on

broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest and concern

with the aim of promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia.

SECOND, that the efforts of the East Asia Summit to promote community building

in this region will be consistent with and reinforce the realisation of the

ASEAN Community, and will form an integral part of the evolving regional

architecture.

THIRD, that the East Asia Summit will be an open, inclusive, transparent and

outward-looking forum in which we strive to strengthen global norms and

universally recognised values with ASEAN as the driving force working in

partnership with the other participants of the East Asia Summit.

FOURTH, we will focus, among others, on the following:

Fostering strategic dialogue and promoting cooperation in political and

security issues to ensure that our countries can live at peace with one

another and with the world at large in a just, democratic and harmonious

environment;

Promoting development, financial stability, energy security, economic

integration and growth eradicating poverty and narrowing the development gap

in East Asia, through technology transfer and infrastructure development,

capacity building, good governance and humanitarian assistance and promoting

financial links, trade and investment expansion and liberalisation; and

Promoting deeper cultural understanding, people-to-people contact and enhanced

cooperation in uplifting the lives and well-being of our peoples in order to

foster mutual trust and solidarity as well as promoting fields such as

environmental protection, prevention of infectious diseases and natural

disaster mitigation.

FIFTH, that:

Participation will be based on the criteria for participation established by

ASEAN;

The East Asia Summit will be convened regularly;

The East Asia Summit will be hosted and chaired by an ASEAN Member Country

that assumes the ASEAN Chairmanship and held back-to-back with the annual

ASEAN Summit; and

The modalities of the East Asia Summit will be reviewed by ASEAN and all other

participating countries of the East Asia Summit.

SIGNED, at Kuala Lumpur on the Fourteenth Day of December in the Year Two

Thousand and Five.

For Brunei Darussalam

(signed)

HAJI HASSANL BOLKIAH

Sultan of Brunei Darussalam

For the Kingdom of Cambodia

(signed)

SAMDECH HUN SEN

Prime Minister

For the Republic of Indonesia

(signed)

DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YODHOYONO

President

For the Lao People's Democratic Republic

(signed)

BOUNNHANG VORACHITH

Prime Minister

For Malaysia

(signed)

DATO' SERI ABDULLAH AHMAD BADAWI

Prime Minister

For the Union of Myanmar

(signed)

GENERAL SOE WIN

Prime Minister

For the Republic of the Philippines

(signed)

GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

President

Foe the Republic of Singapore

(signed)

LEE HSIEN LOONG

Prime Minister

For the Kingdom of Thailand

(signed)

DR. THAKSIN SHINAWATRA

Prime Minister

For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

(signed)

PHAN VAN KHAI

Prime Minister

For Australia

(signed)

JOHN HOWARD

Prime Minister

For the People's Republic of China

(signed)

WEN JIABAO

Premier

For the Republic of India

(signed)

DR. MANMOHAN SINGH

Prime Minister

For Japan

(signed)

JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI

Prime Minister

For the Republic of Korea

(signed)

ROH MOO-HYUN

President

For New Zealand

(signed)

HELEN CLARK

Prime Minister