ASEAN heads of state or government signed Sunday an important document aimed at accelerating the establishment of the ASEAN Community in 2015 at the 14th Summit of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Leaders of the ten ASEAN nations signed the Cha-am Hua Hin Declaration on the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community (2009-2015), with ASEAN Political and Security Community Blueprint, ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint as the three main pillars.
According to the signed declaration on roadmap for ASEAN community, the ASEAN leaders emphasized that "narrowing the development gap shall remain an important task to ensure the benefits of ASEAN integration are fully realized through effective implementation of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration and other sub-regional framework."
A total of 24 ASEAN related documents were signed or adopted by ASEAN leaders. These documents include, among others, the issues relating to the ASEAN community building, trade and investment, sub-regional economic cooperation, food and petroleum security.
During the summit, ASEAN leaders agreed to make join efforts to deal with the current world economic crisis, as the global financial meltdown have increased impact on ASEAN member countries.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on Aug. 8 1967. The ASEAN member states are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2009)