ASEAN adopts declaration to narrow rich-poor divide
ASEAN adopts declaration to narrow rich-poor divide
HANOI (AFP): Southeast Asian governments Tuesday promised to narrow the chasm that separates the region's richest nation from countries still mired in third-world poverty.
Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted a "Hanoi Declaration" pledging to bring impoverished members closer to the first-world standard of living in Singapore.
"We resolve to promote, through concerted efforts, effective cooperation and mutual assistance to narrow the development gap among ASEAN member countries and between ASEAN and the rest of the world for the sake of dynamic and sustained growth of our region and prosperity of all our peoples," the declaration said.
"We shall work together to identify, through research, analysis and consultation, the comparative strengths of our economies and their potential for complementarity, with a view to promoting regional economic integration and a sense of community and shared responsibility among our nations."
The declaration was formally adopted late Monday and would be issued at the end of a two-day meeting in the Vietnamese capital later Tuesday.
ASEAN countries face an enormous task in bridging a gap that has Laos, on one side, 100 times poorer than Singapore in terms of income per head.
The ministers said they would "devote special efforts and resources to promoting the development of the newer member countries of ASEAN, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam" through improving infrastructure, human resources and information- technology.
"We shall continue to expand and deepen our linkages with the rest of the world, particularly with China, Japan and the Republic of (South) Korea within the ASEAN Plus Three framework, and with the other dialogue partners of ASEAN," the declaration said.
The private sector would also be involved in the drive, the ministers pledged, in a region where communist members Laos and Vietnam still insist on the leading role of state enterprise.
The 10 nations agreed to step up regional trade initiatives and work towards implementing an agreement for a free-trade area by 2003 among founding members Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
"We place the highest priority on the development of our human resources as the key to economic growth, social stability and human fulfillment," the declaration continued.
"ASEAN is determined to use information and communication technology as a tool for narrowing the development gap and closing the digital divide within and among member countries as well as between ASEAN and the rest of the world," it added.
They ministers also expressed concern over the U.S.-led economic slowdown which has plunged wealthy Singapore into recession and is threatening other regional economies.
They vowed to "accelerate cooperative endeavors" to enhance the region's competitiveness and help them weather renewed threats to economic growth.
"We expressed concern over the global economic outlook, especially the economic downturn in the U.S., Japan and Europe, which in turn could hamper the prospects for continued growth in the ASEAN region," the ministers said in a joint communique issued at the end of a two-day meeting.
"We resolved to accelerate existing cooperative endeavors to enhance ASEAN's dynamism and competitiveness," the statement said.
The ministers also discussed the challenges facing the 10- nation regional bloc, with the focus on the "economic outlook, the impact of globalization and the region's political and economic situation that could undermine ASEAN's development and progress." y