Jose Tavares, General Director for ASEAN Cooperation at Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry and head of Indonesia’s SOM ASEAN, speaks at the meeting on December 11 (Photo: VNA)Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a meeting on December 11with diplomats; the ASEAN Secretariat; ambassadors and representatives ofpermanent delegations at the ASEAN, as well as from ASEAN agencies to updatethem of the association’s progress as it takes new steps towards a sustainableand people-oriented ASEAN community.
Addressing the event, JoseTavares, General Director for ASEAN Cooperation at Indonesia’s Foreign Ministryand head of Indonesia’s SOM ASEAN, reaffirmed that as a former conflict area,the ASEAN has developed into a region with peace, stability and prosperity.
Reviewing the ASEAN’simportant progress in 2018, Tavares underlined that ASEAN countries have shownclose coordination in politics, security, economy, and culture-society.
He clarified that throughoutthis year, Singapore, as the ASEAN Chair, has given various ideas to promote ASEANgrowth, adding that this year also marks the introduction of the idea on the settingup of ASEAN smart cities to push the bloc forward.
ASEAN is now the sixthlargest economy in the world. In the 25 years following 1990, the region’s povertyratio fell from 47 percent to 14 percent, he noted.
Currently, manyregional economies have grown stably despite challenges such as the US-Chinatrade tension and pressure from newly-emerged economies.
In 2018, ASEAN membercountries and six partners have succeeded in forming the world’s largest freetrade area amidst many obstacles facing trade globalisation and facilitation.
At the 33rd ASEAN Summit in Singapore and othermeetings in 2018, the majority of development-related issues were discussed,showing the joint efforts of countries involved towards the target of boostingthe bloc’s future growth. –VNA
VNA
