REGIONAL SUMMIT
ARTHAYUDH SRISAMOOT
Asean leaders will return to Thailand in December for a series of high-level meetings for only the second time in its 41-year history. The last time that Bangkok hosted an Asean heads of state or government summit was in December 1995. A decision was made then to hold Asean summits every year. Prior to that, Asean summits had been held in 1976, 1977, 1987 and 1992.
The first Asean meeting, held over four days in Bang Saen and Bangkok, was attended by the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. It resulted in the Bangkok Declaration of Aug 8, 1967. This is now known as Asean Day, which is celebrated with Asean promotional activities in all member countries each year.
The Bangkok Declaration contains the spirit and aspirations of the region which have endured for 40 years. The declaration includes objectives such as ''accelerating economic growth, social progress and cultural development through joint endeavours, promoting regional peace and stability in adherence with the UN Charter; and maintaining cooperation with existing international and regional organisations with similar aims''.
Since that first fateful day at Saranrom Palace in 1967, Asean's progress has quickly accelerated. From convening a summit every 10 years, there will be two Asean summits a year starting in 2009.
Asean has grown from a loosely organised grouping of five countries to a more integrated entity of 10 countries that is now widely regarded as one of the most successful regional groupings. To put it into perspective, in 1967, Asean's combined trade was US$10 billion. Last year, it stood at $1.2 trillion.
Its cooperation under the East Asia Summit framework extends to 3.2 billion people (half the world's population), with combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $9 trillion _ compared to $12.4 trillion for the United States and $13.3 trillion for the European Union.
Asean has now become the lynchpin of the wider Asia-Pacific community, the central force behind important cooperative frameworks such as Apec, ARF and Asem _ and the architect of important regional initiatives such as the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, and the Asean Free Trade Area.
Asean cooperation has extended to 28 sectoral ministerial-level meetings, 10 dialogue partners, two regional groupings, plus numerous sectoral and development partners. Tangible cooperation has been cultivated in all areas _ from political and security, economic and finance, to environment, disaster management, energy, social welfare, education, culture, transnational crime, drugs and poverty eradication.
The direction for the Thai chair in 2008 and 2009 will be on realising the spirit and commitments of the Bangkok Declaration and the Asean Charter, revitalising the vision of a people-centred community, reinforcing regional human development and security, and promoting Asean awareness.
A day after the transfer of chairmanship from Singapore, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was guest of honour at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the official launch of the 14th Asean Summit website and the Thai Young Ambassadors of Virtue and Asean Awareness Project, where he sent off by caravan Asean information kits, prizes, and the new and innovative ''Asean Traveller Game'' to schools all over the country.
On Asean Day this year, 919 Thai schools nationwide under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Young Ambassadors of Virtue network hosted the Asean Quiz Competition to commemorate the founding of Asean and to create a better understanding and knowledge of the group among youth.
Several hundred high school and university students flooded Bitec Hall on July 26 to participate in the National Essay Writing Contest. The topic: ''My Perspective on the Asean Community'' brought out some interesting views,
''The future of Asean will confront many challenges, both domestic and international. Asean will have to pursue a sufficiency model which is adaptable and immune to the dangers of globalisation. National interests must be reoriented in line with regional objectives. An Asean identity must be established,'' wrote Chanin Srivisuth, the 150,000-baht first prize winner at the university level.
Piengkwan Atipadkul, a winner in the high-school category reflects: ''An Asean community will entail sharing resources and products to maximise the flow of goods and services within the region. The problem of energy security must be solved through comprehensive education on nuclear safety and promotion of bio-fuel and bio-mass. In essence, an Asean community is like a big tree _ the roots are the security of the community, the trunk represents the economy which supports the tree, while the green big leaves symbolise social prosperity and growth.''
Thailand will be the first country to launch a National Asean Association in the country, and will host an Asean University Youth Summit, an Asean Civil Society Conference and an Interactive Asean-Parliamentary Consultation prior to the 14th Asean Summit.
The agenda is already full. As Asean chair, Thailand will this month host: the second meeting of the high-level panel on an Asean human rights body (to prepare the draft terms of reference); the Initiative for Asean Integration (IAI) taskforce meeting (to draft the IAI workplan for 2009-2015 that aims to narrow the development gap); and the first meeting of the 42nd Asean Standing Committee (which will follow up on the implementation of the decisions of Asean leaders and will be graced by Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag in his capacity as chairman of the Asean Standing Committee).
Thailand has initiated a special session to look into the new schedule of meetings and restructuring the Asean Secretariat as mandated by the Asean Charter.
Looking beyond the meetings, Thailand will be responsible for taking the lead to finalise the Asean Political Security Community blueprint, the Asean Socio-Cultural Community blueprint, the IAI workplan for 2009-2015, as well as additional declarations and cooperative actions on disaster management, energy and food security, and the proposed Asean development goals, all for adoption at this Asean summit.
Thailand will host the third Asean-United Nations Summit this year to discuss cooperative actions with the UN on disaster management and development cooperation, especially in relation to this year's mid-term review of the Millennium Development Goals.
This will be the second time Thailand has organised this event, having hosted the first Asean-UN Summit in 2000. The second summit was in New York in 2005.
Another important initiative to promote Asean awareness and community-bonding will be organising the Asean Anthem Competition, where Asean nationals have been invited to send in musical compositions which will be judged at a composers forum and will be performed during the 14th Asean Summit.
The main conference hall at the opening ceremonies of the 14th Asean Summit will be renamed ''Thanat Khoman Hall'' in honour of Dr Thanat Khoman.
Now 94 and the only remaining founding father of the original five signatories to the Bangkok Declaration, Dr Thanat wrote in 1992 that ''the partnership spirit is not fully developed''.
He must nevertheless be proud of how it is developing.
Arthayudh Srisamoot is with Asean-Thailand.
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