ASEAN PLUS
BRAINSTORMING MEETING
on
Potential Initiatives on Sustainable Development:
Preparation for the World Summit
on Sustainable Development

New York, 3 - 4 November 2001

CHAIRMAN’S SUMMARY

  1. The Brainstorming Meeting of ASEAN Plus was held in New York on 3 - 4 November 2001, was attended by the Permanent Representatives and representatives of ASEAN member countries, and Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia and South Africa, representatives from Japan, and the Republic of Korea. The meeting was also attended by the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Prof. DR. Emil Salim, and the Secretary General of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Mr. Nitin Desai, Director of UNEP North America, Mr. Adnan Amin, and Assistant of the UNDP Administrator, Ms. Eimi Watanabe.  The meeting was chaired by H.E. Ambassador Makmur Widodo, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to the UN.

  2. The meeting was started by opening remarks of H.E. Ambassador Widodo of Indonesia, outlining the objective of the meeting as an effort for ASEAN member countries to develop concrete initiatives as contribution to the preparatory process of the World Summit. He further elaborated that in addition to the political outcome and programme of action, there is also an urgent need to develop concrete initiatives on sustainable development and in this context, the meeting is expected to consider a number of initiatives and concrete projects to be developed in cooperation with dialogue partners and relevant international organizations.

  3. The representative of South Africa elaborated the thinking of the Government of South Africa on substantive issue of the preparatory process so as to ensure a more meaningful outcome and legacy on sustainable development. She placed the emphasis on the need to put planet and humanity as the central theme of the World Summit as adopted by the African regional preparatory committee meeting and highlighted the urgent need to tackle the problem of extreme poverty within the context of the New African Initiatives.

  4. The meeting was also briefed by the Chairman of the preparatory committee, the Secretary-General of the World Summit, UNDP, and UNEP. The Chairman of the preparatory committee urged the participants to consider the following issues:

    1. The need to develop a new development model by integrating the concept of three front approach, namely economic, social, and environmental;
    1. The need to strengthen regional mechanisms to support sustainable development, e.g. establishment of a technology bank; innovative measures for mobilization of financial resources; and, setting time bound and clear targets so as to achieve sustainable development for the next decade;
    1. Develop and enhance networking of research and other centers of excellence in the ASEAN region and networking among civil society;
    1. To ensure the engagement of the highest political leadership of ASEAN in the World Summit;
    1. To develop and enhance cooperation on sustainable development of marine resources and coastal areas; sustainable urban development and management based on existing models and initiatives; and, to highlight the critical issue of biodiversity and biotechnology.
    1. The need to develop capacities and know-how for "adding value" to the region’s rich natural resources.

  1. The Secretary-General of the WSSD highlighted the need for the preparatory process to strengthen the implementation of international agreements, including the Millennium goals and targets and to combine them into a specific set of proposals. There is also a need to further crystallize the fairly general ideas on various sectoral and crosscutting issues that are developing, into concrete propositions with clearer targets  and to mobilize support for feasible outcomes at the regional and global level as well as actively engaging the stakeholders in the World Summit process. The World Summit should also engage industry and the private sector and encompass relevant aspects of globalization. He also urged the active engagement of  all relevant Ministries, and  in particular, the Heads of States or Governments in the Summit and encouraged early engagement of ASEAN countries in the process. He also emphasized the need for the process to ensure a strong link between the technical level in New York and those at the national, sub-regional and regional levels.

  2. Ms. Eimi Watanabe from UNDP underlined the need to develop concrete regional initiatives and indicated that UNDP would support cross-border type activities, particularly those concerning  poverty and environment; development of regional sustainable energy strategy based on the Bali Declaration on energy and sustainable development; capacity building for sustainable development; and, sustainable development of marine resources and coastal areas. 

  3. Mr. Adnan Amin described activities of UNEP in supporting the WSSD processes and in developing regional assessment and platforms for  the preparatory meetings at the sub-regional and regional levels as well as finalizing the Global Environment Report. UNEP also attaches great importance to support cooperation on atmosphere, fresh water, and sanitation, deforestation and forests degradation.

  4. The representatives of Australia, Japan and Korea also made a presentation concerning activities that have been undertaken in the preparatory processes of the World Summit. Australia welcomed the idea of developing concrete initiatives and emphasized the need to avoid polarization of north-south type of debate by engaging in a  more  constructive approach. Australia is interested in projects related to ocean and regional seas programme within the context of UNCLOS. Australia stands ready to provide information on lessons learned and their  technical expertise in supporting such activities. Globalization and poverty was also highlighted. The Representative from Japan underlined the need to develop realistic approaches.

  5. The discussion focused on how the ASEAN could provide a meaningful contribution to the preparatory processes of the WSSD and considered a number of concrete initiatives which could complement the two major outcomes to be negotiated at the World Summit i.e. political declaration and time-bound programme for further ensuring the implementation of Agenda 21.

  6. Based on the discussion, the following were emphasized and highlighted:
  1. The attendance and engagement of Head of State and Government at the World Summit are highly important to ensure the successful outcome of the Summit;
  2. In order to ensure the engagement of officials at the highest political level, it was important to identify at an early stage clear and tangible issues to be highlighted for the Summit;
  3. Biodiversity and biotechnology are issues of especially importance to Southeast Asia, in particular ASEAN. In this connection, the strengthening of biodiversity centers and the development of biotechnology capacities to add value to biodiversity resources were also highlighted;
  4. There is a general agreement that ASEAN should play an active role at the forthcoming regional preparatory committee meeting in Cambodia and should be actively engaged in all of the preparatory processes at the global level;
  5. Raising awareness and ensuring participation of stakeholders are crucial in ensuring the implementation of sustainable development. In this context developing and improving international cooperation on education and capacity building were also highlighted.
  6. The active involvement of stakeholders in particular business sector to the preparatory process and at the Summit is a unique feature of Johannesburg Summit. In this regard, ASEAN businesses should be encouraged to participate actively in the preparatory processes and in the implementation of Agenda 21.
  7. There was a general view that ASEAN should also prepare their substantive input to the preparatory processes and should ensure that clear target and time-bound measures also be set to achieve sustainable development. In addition, concrete initiatives and projects should also be developed for the region, e.g. in translating those targets and measures. In this regard, the meeting noted some specific proposals made in the region’s preparatory processes.
  8. In general, participants recognized that all of the project ideas elaborated in the background document are of crucial importance for ASEAN and should be further developed in cooperation with partner countries and international organizations;
  9. The Participants wish to convey the project ideas as contained in the background document to their respective capitals for a consideration and further development through appropriate mechanisms.

    Participants expressed their appreciation to the Permanent Mission of Indonesia for organizing the brainstorming meeting for the preparation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development

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