| Statement by New York, 13 September 2005
Your Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General
of the United Nations, We are also grateful, Mr. Secretary-General, for your attendance, together with world leaders, at the ASEAN Leaders’ Special Summit in Jakarta last January. The Summit not only gave us a good view of the level of assistance committed by the international community, but also helped ensure that this would be sustained over the emergency relief period into the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase. The Summit also provided us the opportunity to make crucial decisions on coordination, and its outcomes are today being actively followed up. Until today, the specialized agencies of the United Nations are at work in the devastated areas, rebuilding infrastructures and enabling the survivors to resume their normal lives. A special mention must be made to the invaluable role of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in this regard. Among the key follow-ups to the Jakarta Tsunami Summit is ASEAN’s decision in Vientiane last July to establish Standby Arrangements that will make it possible for us to quickly bring over assistance to any disaster-affected area. I am pleased to note the UN’s support for this undertaking as reflected in the ASEAN-UNDP Roundtable Discussion on Humanitarian Rapid Response Capacity planned for implementation in Medan, Indonesia in October of this year. Of course, our efforts at capacity building must extend beyond disaster management and emergency response to include prevention and mitigation. In this connection, as recognized at the Jakarta Summit, a tsunami early warning system covering the Indian Ocean and the Southeast Asia region is essential. I am pleased to note that efforts in this direction, benefiting from UNESCO expertise, are beginning to bear fruit. Since the 1970s, we in ASEAN have valued the engagement of the UN. However, it is time that we deepen, broaden and strengthen the linkage between the UN and ASEAN. The UNDP for example, should be encouraged to further intensify development activities that are ASEAN-wide in nature. In the area of political cooperation, ASEAN’s dialogue with the UN to promote a culture of conflict-prevention in the region should be enhanced. We are keen in refining our social institutions to become bastions for promoting a just, democratic and harmonious environment. This is in line with our goals of establishing an ASEAN Security Community. ASEAN can also glean valuable insights
from the UN’s vast experience in conflict prevention, conflict
resolution, including peacekeeping, and post-conflict peace-building. On the development, we should also find ways to widen ASEAN-UN partnership to achieve all our Millennium Development Goals. We will not waver in pursuing our MDG targets – as we affirmed in the Jakarta Declaration on MDGs at the Regional Ministerial Meeting that Indonesia hosted last August. I would like to conclude by emphasizing the importance of the UN’s engagement with ASEAN in its community building efforts and to play a more effective role in promoting global peace and development. Key to the achievement of these goals
would be the reform of the United Nations.
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