PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia as the chairman of Asean 2015 is set to create the Asean Community by Dec 31 this year, said Asean-Malaysia National Secretariat (AMNS) deputy director-general, Mohd Zamruni Khalid.
He said establishing the Asean Community was one of the eight priorities set by Malaysia in conjunction with its chairmanship of the regional association.
“By Dec 31 this year, we are going to have Asean Community. This is subject to implementation of most of the blueprint for the Asean Community which had been agreed upon in 2009,” he said during a briefing on the Asean Chairmanship 2015 at Wisma Putra, here, yesterday.
Elaborating on the eight priorities set by Malaysia as the chairman of Asean 2015, Mohd Zamruni said besides establishing the Asean Community, other priorities were to enhance Asean’s role as a global player and to steer Asean closer to the people.
Other priorities include developing the Asean Community’s Post-2015 Vision and its attendant documents, to strengthen the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region, and to expand intra-Asean trade and investments.
Also listed as priorities under Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship were strengthening Asean ’s institutions and promoting regional peace and security.
Mohd Zamruni said Asean also developed the blueprint for the three community pillars, namely the Asean Political Security Community (APSC), Asean Economic Community (AEC) and Asean Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC).
“The implementation rate for the pillars is good with the APSC at 85 per cent. We hope to achieve the AEC implementation at 82 per cent while the ASCC is the strongest with more than 90 per cent implementation,” he said.
Mohd Zamruni said Malaysia was ahead of other Asean countries in implementing the three community pillars.
Asked if the global economic downturn would effect the AEC, he said the uncertainties in the global economic environment would more or less have some effects.
If the Asean countries were to experience an economic downturn, it might affect job creation and Asean integration, he further said.
Malaysia assumes the chairmanship of Asean beginning Jan 1 from Myanmar. The 26th Asean Summit will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on April 26 and 27.
The Asean Foreign Ministers Retreat, to be held at the Sutera Harbour Resort, Kota Kinabalu on Jan 27-28, will be the curtain raiser for the series of ministerial and related meetings under Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship this year.
Themed ‘Our People, Our Community, Our Vision’, Malaysia’s vision throughout the chairmanship is the creation of a people-centred Asean involving all sectors of society in the grouping’s activities.
Formed on Aug 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, the membership of Asean has expanded to include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. — Bernama