Joint Statement: ASEAN-New Zealand Commemorative

Joint Statement of the ASEAN-New Zealand Commemorative Summit “Trusted Friends, Dynamic Partners”

30 October 2010, Ha Noi, Viet Nam 1.
1. We, the Heads of State/Government of the Member States of ASEAN and New Zealand today celebrated 35 years of the ASEAN-New Zealand Dialogue Relationship at a Commemorative Summit held in Ha Noi.

Looking back – a steadfast and fruitful partnership

2. We recalled the original vision of the first Dialogue Meeting in Wellington in 1975 was to develop close and increasingly mutually beneficial relations and to strengthen our economies and advance the welfare of our peoples. Much has been achieved to realise this vision. There is no better illustration of this than the entry into force this year of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) – the first single undertaking and most comprehensive economic agreement concluded by ASEAN with any dialogue partner.

3. We affirmed that AANZFTA, as a ‘living agreement’ and through its implementation agenda, is a new pillar of the relationship and a strong basis on which to build deeper economic integration. Today our combined trade makes ASEAN New Zealand’s third largest trading partner with trade in one week now equalling that traded in a whole year in 1975. This shows the extent to which our livelihoods have grown together. We look forward to the accelerated growth and benefits for our peoples that will flow from the AANZFTA.

4. We emphasised the importance of connecting our peoples, and welcomed the evolution of substantial two-way tourism flows, services, sector linkages and education ties. In the year to June 2010, 192,000 of our respective citizens visited ASEAN countries or New Zealand for social, tourism, education and business reasons. New Zealand welcomed the contribution fast-growing ASEAN populations were making to New Zealand society and ASEAN affirmed that New Zealanders were dynamic contributors to business, education and other sectors in the region.

5. We support the development of an ASEAN-centred regional architecture that is open, transparent, and inclusive and that will help drive economic prosperity, promote regional peace and stability as well as enhance socio-cultural cooperation. We underscored the multifaceted nature of our partnership, through close cooperation in the wider regional architecture, spanning the East Asia Summit, ASEAN-CER, ASEAN Regional Forum, the ADMM Plus and ASEM, which will contribute positively to this regional architecture. We emphasised the importance of working together to take forward broader regional frameworks, with ASEAN providing a strong and cohesive core at the centre of these arrangements.

6. New Zealand welcomed ASEAN’s growing profile on the global stage and supported ASEAN’s regular participation in the G20 Summits and related meetings. ASEAN Leaders expressed appreciation for New Zealand’s steadfast support of its development and integration over the past 35 years. This has included long standing and consistent development assistance to developing member states, early accession to the TAC and through the evolution and implementation of the ASEAN Charter.

Looking forward – dynamic partners, integrated communities

7. Looking together to the future, we heralded the conclusion of the ASEAN-New Zealand Comprehensive Partnership and Plan of Action 2010-2015. Agreed by ASEAN and New Zealand Foreign Ministers in July, the Comprehensive Partnership and Plan of Action charts the ‘event horizon’ of our relationship for the next five years and helps underpin ASEAN’s own Roadmap for Integration.

8. We underscored the importance of narrowing the development gaps in the region and of attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To this end, ASEAN Leaders welcomed the commitment New Zealand has made to sustaining its development assistance into the future and commended New Zealand’s announcement of four flagship initiatives within the framework of the Plan of Action, namely the ASEAN-New Zealand Scholarships Programme (which would provide 170 scholarships annually for the next five years), a Young Business Leaders Exchange Programme and programmes on Disaster Risk Management and Agricultural Diplomacy, as a notable demonstration of New Zealand’s firm commitment to the Comprehensive Partnership.

9. ASEAN Leaders expressed solidarity with New Zealand following the Canterbury earthquake, and we discussed the importance of continuing close cooperation on disaster preparedness and response management, prone as we all are to natural disasters and linked as well by the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ which present devastating natural disaster challenges. We thus underscored the importance of working together and with other partners in developing an effective regional disaster management arrangement, including New Zealand’s support for the implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) and the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Center (AHA Center) that will enable the region to have more effective and timely response to disasters.
10. We eagerly anticipated the effective realisation of the ASEAN Community by 2015. New Zealand affirmed its support for the implementation of the three blueprints, along with the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), under the ASEAN Roadmap for an ASEAN Community and looked forward to further contributing in a concrete way through the Joint Comprehensive Partnership and its Plan of Action.

11. We affirmed the importance of the AANZFTA implementation agenda, particularly the 5-year AANZFTA Economic Cooperation Support Programme, which is a very important element of AANZFTA’s strategic approach to economic cooperation. We committed to continue close cooperation between ASEAN and ‘Closer Economic Relations’ partners, New Zealand and Australia, as we work collectively towards a more integrated region, both with and between ASEAN and the CER economies.

12. There is much to be shared. Building on the strong AANZFTA foundation, and New Zealand’s and Australia’s extensive experience in the process of economic integration, we noted New Zealand’s proposal to establish a Track 1.5 ‘Integration Partnership Forum’ between ASEAN, New Zealand and Australia to share experiences in economic integration and connectivity and to chart the course for ASEAN-CER integration into the future. We tasked our officials to explore conceptualisation of the forum. We underscored the importance of strengthening the existing annual ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Dialogue in Kuala Lumpur as an important forum of this new Integration Partnership process.

13. New Zealand commended ASEAN’s important work on connectivity and confirmed its willingness to jointly seek greater connectivity and integration between our countries and communities. In this regard, together we encouraged enhanced cooperation to implement the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity to promote greater economic dynamism, prosperity, and greater understanding between the peoples of the region. We also identified the interoperability of qualifications frameworks as an area of future cooperation to deepen education connections within the region.

14. We acknowledged the many institutional linkages that have developed between New Zealand and ASEAN Member State institutions in education, including joint courses, English language training and mentoring programs. We endorsed the enhancement of these linkages as a realistic approach to promote a wider and more dynamic institutional connectivity – including twinning arrangements and expert secondments - between relevant agencies and institutions in ASEAN and New Zealand. We directed our officials to pursue these opportunities and to discover more as ASEAN’s integration plans evolve and take form.

15. We affirmed the value of continued engagement at Leadership level between ASEAN and New Zealand and welcomed the steady pace of visits by Leaders and Ministers within our region. The New Zealand Prime Minister also expressed a wish to welcome ASEAN Leaders to New Zealand in the future.

16. In concluding, ASEAN Leaders expressed appreciation for New Zealand’s steadfast support for ASEAN centrality in the emerging regional architecture and for ASEAN integration as part of the development of the ASEAN Community in 2015. We all underscored the importance we attach to building ever-stronger partnerships among us. Looking across the spectrum of actions currently underway - and ideas that have been ignited for the future - we affirmed the continuing value of the ASEAN New Zealand relationship in delivering mutual benefits to both partners. We committed to furthering the relationship as trusted friends and dynamic partners to strengthen our economies and advance the welfare of our peoples.

ENDS

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