Joint Press Statement on Follow-Up to the Asean-U.S. Enhanced Partnership

ASEAN Member Countries and the United States of America have agreed to continue to advance the ASEAN-U.S. Enhanced Partnership and the Plan of Action to Implement the Enhanced Partnership. Our cooperation also builds upon the ASEAN-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement.

In the coming year, ASEAN and the United States have resolved to focus our cooperation on a range of priority areas including political, security and economic cooperation, health, scholarships, information and communications technology, transportation, energy, disaster management and environmental management. These eight thrusts will continue and support the ASEAN-U.S. endeavour to create an enabling regional environment in ASEAN conducive to sustained economic growth, enhanced economic interaction and stronger linkages between ASEAN and the United States. Our efforts will build upon various ongoing programmes such as the Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative (EAI), ASEAN Cooperation Plan (ACP), ASEAN-U.S. Technical Assistance and Training Facility and USAID initiatives.

Specific priority measures for ASEAN-U.S. cooperation in 2007 include:

Economic Cooperation

• Cooperation to promote good governance and work to combat corruption.

• Initiatives to promote intellectual property rights protection, and to promote the use of internationally adopted standards, increased transparency, and simplification of rules and procedures.

• Planned study on collaboration of ASEAN Small and Medium Enterprises and U.S. companies.

Health Cooperation

• Programs will be implemented to improve ASEAN's capacity to combat emerging infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.

Scholarships

• The U.S. will announce the launch of a new scholarship research program for ASEAN Member Countries under the Fulbright Program, starting from 2007.

Cooperation in Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

• A regular dialogue of telecommunications officials, whose priority will be to bridge the digital divide, promote the use of ICT for development, and improve the regulatory framework conducive to this effort in ASEAN.

Cooperation in Transport

• To improve transportation links between ASEAN and the U.S.

Energy Cooperation

• Joint studies and workshops for the development of alternative, renewable and clean energy sources.

Cooperation in Disaster Management

• A capacity-building program to improve ASEAN's capability to prevent, respond to, and recover from the impact of natural disasters.

Cooperation in Environmental Management

• An expansion of our cooperation on sustainable development, including further development of the ongoing "Model Sustainable Cities" project.

The year 2007 marks the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN-U.S. Dialogue Relations. ASEAN Member Countries and the United States plan to use this opportunity to increase awareness of ASEAN in the United States and of ASEAN-U.S. cooperation in the ASEAN region.

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17 NOVEMBER 2006