Monday, August 9, 2010

ASEAN commemorates 43rd anniversary

09 Aug, 2010

The 43rd anniversary of Association Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), themed "Bridging Markets, Connecting People", was commemorated in ASEAN Secretariat here on Monday, attended by ambassadors of member countries to ASEAN, dialogue partners and aspiring partners.

The celebration was featured with tree planting jointly conducted by Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr. Marty Natalegawa and ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, reminding all ASEAN stakeholders about huge efforts waiting ahead towards the establishment of ASEAN Community by 2015.

Dr. Surin in his remarks said that the efforts towards building an ASEAN Community would be greatly depending on ASEAN people.

"The people need to be made aware of the benefits of ASEAN. They must be inspired by the vision of ASEAN and convinced that the future of their children would be very much depended on the materialization of that vision," Dr. Surin said.

To do so, he added that people in the ten members of ASEAN must be made to have a sense of belonging to ASEAN, be made aware on what they can do for ASEAN.

The ASEAN Community vision will integrate all resources in the Southeast Asian countries through various measures, among others open-sky policy among ASEAN countries, inter-country job employment, the use of English as official communication language among ASEAN people.

ASEAN is now joined by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Source: Xinhua

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