ASEAN holds 13th Coordinating Conference for ASEAN Political Security Community

JAKARTA, 7 May 2021 – With only a handful of action lines left to be implemented, progress of work for the ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint 2025 is on the right track. The Blueprint’s Mid-Term Review conducted in 2020 likewise reveals that two in every ten activities evaluated have high impact, more than 80% of them are expected to be sustained, and four in every ten are seen to have irreversible or long-lasting effects.

This was highlighted during the 13^th Coordinating Conference for the ASEAN Political-Security Community (ASCCO). Held yesterday via videoconference, ASCCO was chaired by the Deputy Security-General for Political-Security Community Robert Matheus Michael Tene.

Also presented during the conference is the Strategic and Holistic Initiative to Link ASEAN Responses to Emergencies and Disasters (SHIELD), one of the several initiatives of Brunei Darussalam as the current ASEAN Chair.

The conference likewise welcomed positive developments towards having a Terms of Reference for Lead Sectoral Bodies for ASEAN Cross-Pillar and Cross-Sectoral Issues, an important step towards promoting cross-pillar cooperation.

Following the ASEAN Leaders’ adoption in 2020 of the Ha Noi Declaration on the ASEAN Community’s Post-2025 Vision, a High-Level Task Force (HLTF) to develop the said vision is in the process of being formed, with several ASEAN Member States (AMS) manifesting readiness to serve as a permanent shepherd of the HLTF.

Other key issues discussed include:

• ASEAN’s initiatives in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic (ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework, ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework, COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund and Vaccine Procurement, ASEAN Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies);

• the ASEAN Enabling Master Plan 2025; and

• Consolidated Strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, among others.

Held annually, ASCCO brings together all Sectoral Bodies of the ASEAN Political-Security Pillar, including several entities associated with ASEAN as well as AMS. Chairs of the Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) and the Senior Officials Committee for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council (SOCA) likewise regularly participate.

May 7th, 2021|ASEAN Secretariat News