“ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience”

Explanatory Note on Priorities 

(KPL) In 2024, ASEAN, like other regions around the world, continues to face a myriad of challenges, including lingering economic and financial difficulties, even though the region has been gradually recovering from multidimensional disturbances, and yet this recovery remains fragile. Additionally, climate change, natural disasters, and traditional and non-traditional security issues, among others, also continue to be pressing challenges. Against this backdrop, enhancing connectivity and resilience is of utmost importance to ensure ASEAN collective efforts in the strengthening of the ASEAN Community and to seize opportunities and address present and emerging challenges effectively. 

It is, thus, imperative for ASEAN to enhance its cooperation on ASEAN connectivity and resilience through intensifying ASEAN cooperation under the three community pillars; promoting infrastructure connectivity, narrowing development gap, promoting greater economic integration and people-to-people exchanges; and further strengthening ASEAN’s relations with external partners, while maintaining ASEAN's relevance and ASEAN centrality in the evolving regional architecture, among others. 

To this end, the Lao PDR has determined the theme“ASEAN: Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience” for its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2024.   

Summary of priorities under this theme is as follows: 

1. Enhancing Connectivity 

Connectivity plays a crucial role in supporting an integrated ASEAN Community building process, which comprises political-security, economic and socio-cultural pillars, especially in promoting the regional economic integration, the ASEAN competitiveness and recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in building resilience to address growing challenges. 

Under “Enhancing Connectivity”, the Lao PDR will seek cooperation on the following priority areas:

1. Integrating and Connecting Economies: this priority area would focus on deepening connections in areas such as regulatory alignment, removing barriersto trade and investment, and strengthening supply chain connectivity across ASEAN – highlighting that ASEAN is stronger and more resilient, when economies are better connected. A number of the Priority Economic Deliverables (PEDs) under this priority are centred on economic integration. This means building stronger connections between the economies of ASEAN and ASEAN partners. Stronger connections, in particular through trade and investment, narrowing the development gaps between ASEAN Member States, building resilience through economic growth and stability. Several PEDs to support the Integrating and Connecting Economies include an ASEAN Declaration on Enhancing Supply Chain Connectivity; completing the Review with a view to upgrading the  ASEAN Framework Agreement on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AFAIPC); achieving Substantial conclusion of Upgraded ASEAN-China FTA “3.0”; and Achieving Entry-into-Force of the 2^nd Protocol on the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA) and reframing strategies for narrowing development gaps and promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the ASEAN region.

2. Forging an Inclusive and Sustainable Future: This priority recognises the importance of sustainable development for ASEAN, connecting environmental and social objectives with the building of a more resilient ASEAN region. PEDs under this priority have a particular focus on cooperation in areas of sustainable development. Under the Lao PDR’s Chairmanship, PEDs will support outcomes on sustainable agriculture, new ecotourism standards, a strategy for crop burning reduction and a new approach to energy infrastructure and power trade across ASEAN borders. Fostering inclusion deepens connections among different groups within ASEAN, including marginalized communities and businesses, and ensures that the benefits of ASEAN economic integration are available to all. Under the Lao PDR’s Chairmanship, PEDs will also support the MSME sector across ASEAN – the backbone of our economies – by exploring new ways to address access to finance and financial inclusion. Several PEDs to support this priority include developing the Strategy/Guideline for Crop Burning Reduction to support the implementation of the ASEAN Carbon Neutrality Strategy and an ASEAN Action Plan on Sustainable Agriculture; achieving substantive progress in finalizing a successor agreement on the ASEAN Power Grid and multilateral power trade in the region and an ASEAN Ecotourism Standards; and addressing Financing Gaps Among MSMEs.

3. Transforming for the Digital Future: this is to support ASEAN’s emergence as a leading digital economy, building deeper connections across ASEAN and with the world using modern tools. In turn, these modern tools will create new opportunities and build resilience for the challenges of the modern global economy. Digital transformation can enhance connectivity within ASEAN by providing new ways for member states to communicate, collaborate, and share information. By adopting digital technologies, electronic payment methods and platforms, ASEAN can overcome physical barriers and enable real-time communication, facilitating the development of a more connected and integrated community. Digital transformation can also enhance resilience of ASEAN by improving its ability to adapt to changes and disruptions. Under the Lao PDR’s Chairmanship, PEDs will focus on reducing friction in our trading system, paving the way for a new generation of the ASEAN Single Window and establishing a roadmap towards new digital trade standards aligned with global norms. The Lao PDR will also drive PEDs under this priority to create new opportunities in the digital sector for individuals, through the launch of the ASEAN Online Education Platform for Industry 4.0, and for businesses through the roadmap on Unique Business Identification Numbers. Several PEDs to support this priority include completing the technical study on a New Generation of ASEAN Single Window and adopting a Roadmap on DigitalTrade Standards in ASEAN,an ASEAN Online Education Platform for Industry 4.0 and a Roadmap to Establish Regionally Comparable and Recognized Unique Business Identification Numbers (UBIN) in ASEAN.

4. Culture and Arts: Promoting the Role of ASEAN Culture and the Arts for Inclusion and Sustainability: this priority aims at promoting the role of culture and arts in the ASEAN region in order to strengthen the human capacity building and increase more activities and projects of the culture and the arts in developing the Small and Medium-sized Cultural Enterprises along with the Green Growth and Sustainable Development. Several deliverables are expected to support this priority, such as a Declaration on Promoting the Small and Medium-sized Cultural Enterprises aligned with the Green Growth for Sustainable Development, an ASEAN Vientiane Performing Arts Programme, an ASEAN Vientiane Film Week, the Best of ASEAN Performing Arts 2024: “ASEAN as One Stage”, an ASEAN-Japan Youth Exchange Programme on the Creative Fine Arts Productions, an ASEAN-Korea Music Festival 2024, an ASEAN’s Musical Instrumentalist Students Exchange Programme, a Saa Paper Workshop to Promote Plastic-Free in ASEAN and an ASEAN Heritage Train – Enhancing Connectivity towards Cultural Diversity. 

II. Enhancing Resilience 

The Lao PDR’s ASEAN Chairmanship is carried out in a year when geo-political and geo-economic landscapes are increasingly complex with multi-dimensional challenges. Enhancing resilience is of paramount importance as it would enable ASEAN to navigate through and address these challenges in an effective and sustainable manner for the common course of peace, stability, and development cooperation. 

The following activities and areas are to support “Enhancing Resilience”:

1. Development of strategic plans to implement the ASEAN Community Vision 2045: 

2024 is an important year as ASEAN approaches its final stage of the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. A review and evaluation of the APSC blueprint 2025 will be commenced in 2024 and completed in 2025. 

The ASEAN Community Vision 2045 was noted by the 43^rd ASEAN Summit. In 2024, the strategic plans to implement this Vision would be developed for adoption in 2025 by the ASEAN Leaders. An ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Development of Strategic Plans to implement the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 is expected to support this endeavour.

2. Enhancing ASEAN Centrality: The focus would be made on the followings:  

The Lao PDR will continueto enhance ASEAN’s external relations with a view to further contributing to the ASEAN Community-building efforts as well as maintaining peace and stability, and promoting sustainable development and prosperity, including through ASEAN-led mechanisms, while maintaining ASEAN Centrality in the evolving regional architecture. The Lao PDR will seek to further strengthen ASEAN’s relations with ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners, Sectoral Dialogue Partners, and Development Partners through the existing frameworks, Plans of Action, ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, Practical Cooperation Areas and development cooperation programmes based on mutual interest and benefit. As the ASEAN Chair and Country Coordinator for ASEAN-Australia Dialogue Relations, the Lao PDR will ensure the success of a Special Summit to Commemorate the 50^th Anniversary of ASEAN-Australia Dialogue Relations. 

To support Timor-Leste’s preparations for Full Membership in ASEAN, the implementation of the Roadmap and working toward Timor-Leste’s accession to the Treaty on the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone will be pursued. 

The Lao PDR will uphold ASEAN’s commitment to assisting Myanmar in finding a peaceful, durable, and a Myanmar-Owned and Led comprehensive political resolution to the ongoing crisis, as Myanmar remains an integral part of ASEAN, through the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus, the ASEAN Leaders’ Review and Decision on the Implementation of the Five-Point Consensus adopted at the 40^th and 41^st ASEAN Summits in Phnom Penh (2022) and at the 43^rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta (2023).

3. Promoting Environmental Cooperation: Climate Change Resilience - To work on priority areas, including conservation of biodiversity and sustainable management of natural resources; promotion of environmentally sustainable cities; addressing climate change by mitigation and adaptation; and sustainable consumption and production.  ASEAN needs to upgrade policies and actions, including the formulation of regional policies and engaging in international collaboration to support environmental preservation and sustainable development and it is time for the ASEAN community to deepen their cooperation on economic recovery, taking into account the urgent needs for green and clean development initiatives, promoting local population livelihoods and food security, and taking effective climate action. Several activities and documents are expected to support this priority, such as an ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change to UNFCCC COP 29; a Programme on Implementation of Roadmap on Transboundary Haze Pollution; an ASEAN Framework on Plastic Pollution and Circular Economy and a capacity building programme to ASEAN Member States for Accessing Green Finance.

4. Women and Children: Promoting the role of Women and Children towards the transformation of behaviourism in ASEAN: it will focus on promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through the acknowledgment of unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) which is a significant issue in many Asian countries, including ASEAN Member States. Women and girls typically spend a disproportionate amount of time on UCDW compared to men and boys, which can limit their opportunities for education, work, and participation in public life. Several activities and documents are expected to support this priority, such as the convening of the 3^rd ASEAN Women Leaders’ Summit: Strengthening Care Economy and Resilience towards ASEAN Community Post-2025 and adoption of a Declaration on Strengthening Care Economy and Resilience Toward ASEAN Community Post-2025.

5. Health:Transforming ASEAN Health Development Resilience in a New Context -the COVID-19 pandemic has shown vulnerabilities in health system, which has profound implications on health and socio-economic development. It is required to strengthen the capacity of health system to be more resilient in order to ensure timely response, and rapid and effective contribution to socio-economic recovery. Several documents and activities are expected to support this area, such as an ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Biosafety and Biosecurity, a Plan of Action to operationalize the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Ending Inequalities and Getting on Track to End AIDS by 2030, and organising side-events: 10^th Anniversary of the ASEAN-Mitigation of Biological Threats Programme, Progress towards Ending AIDS in ASEAN by 2030, and Awarding the ASEAN Smoke-Free Award for Smoke-Free Cities in ASEAN region.

KPL