AT THE 15th ASEAN Summit Retreat session yesterday, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, in his titah, noted the importance of enhancing ASEAN connectivity, where greater efforts to link countries in the region together could play a vital role in building the ASEAN Community.

His Majesty said that such connectivity would facilitate the movement of goods, services, capital and skilled labour to promote economic growth and create other opportunities. That connectivity would become more evident as ASEAN moved forward towards achieving its Economic Community, and when it eliminates all tariffs in January 2010, His Majesty said.

The Sultan also stated that these linkages would continue to strengthen ASEAN's efforts in addressing global challenges, such as climate change, natural disasters and food and energy security.

His Majesty highlighted the need to improve coordination and accessibility during emergencies, and was pleased to note that the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response would come into effect soon.

The last member country to sign the treaty, the Philippines, joined in September, the ASEAN Secretariat said in a statement last month. The Philippines has suffered several typhoons this year, leaving about 1,000 people dead and more than 160,000 people homeless in their wake.

ASEAN heads noted the need for defence agencies with resources, to be involved in natural disaster relief and management programmes.They also acknowledged the need for personnel to be equipped with updated skills for the event of a natural disaster and the need to have adequate food reserves for times of emergency.

Shifting the focus to climate change, His Majesty encouraged ASEAN to cooperate with its dialogue partners to ensure a mutually meaningful outcome of the 15th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Copenhagen this December.

ASEAN leaders recognised that climate change continues to be a major concern, and pledged to work together to contribute to the Copenhagen Summit. The leaders noted that the ASEAN Statement on Climate Change should serve as a basis for ASEAN having a common approach towards the Copenhagen Summit.

Another highlight of the retreat was that ASEAN leaders agreed ASEAN should continue to be represented in the G20, and that its consultation process for the G20 be institutionalised.

Financial officials of each member state were tasked by their respective leaders to coordinate ASEAN's position and to form a contact group with Vietnam as the next chair, Indonesia as a member of G20 and the ASEAN Secretary-General to ensure coordination among member states.

National leaders at the retreat also stressed the importance of mobilising funds to support infrastructure development projects, and tasked their finance ministers to develop the idea of an ASEAN infrastructure development fund.

As member nations have been affected by the global financial crisis, ASEAN leaders are looking forward to the launch of the US$120 billion ($167.4bn) Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) at the end of the year to help restore confidence and enhance the ability to address the impact of financial crises.

Thailand has offered to temporarily host the CMI surveillance unit, which will help provide early warning for financial crises in the future.

Leaders also noted the need to cooperate with each other in regards to development of energy infrastructure, enhancement of energy efficiency and development of technologies for clean and renewable energy. During the retreat, proposals were drafted to promote the ASEAN spirit among the region's younger generations through programmes in order to nurture future leaders, and education systems to teach them the role of ASEAN.

On closing the retreat, participating leaders adopted the "Cha-am Hua Hin Declaration on Strengthening Cooperation on Education to Achieve an ASEAN Caring and Sharing Community", "ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change to the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 5th session of the Conference of Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" and the "ASEAN Leader's Statement on ASEAN Connectivity".

The ASEAN retreat was the first of the summit meetings held yesterday. All Summit meetings were chaired by Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, at the Dusit Thani hotel in Hua Hin.

The Brunei Times