Despite the difficulties arising from the worldwide recession, ASEAN sustained the highest economic growth rate of any region in the world. It has intensified and accelerated its programme of cooperation which has substantially contributed to the stability and prosperity of the ASEAN region, enhancing at the same time the political solidarity of its own member countries. The highlights of ASEAN’s considerable progress in regional cooperation in the fields of trade and industry, energy, food, agriculture and forestry, finance and banking, transport and communications, as well as in the areas of social development, information and coltural exchanges, and science and technology, are recounted in the relevant sections of this Report.

ASEAN cooperation with its dialogue or third country partners has been intensified, at governmental as well as private sector levels.

The Foreign Ministers of ASEAN and the European Community met in London on 13-14 October 1981 and exchanged views on international issues of mutual concern. They reaffirmed their’commitment at their previous Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur to world peace, international cooperation and understanding, economic development, social justice and human rights, and the principles of the United Nations Charter.

The London meeting was followed by intensive discussions of ASEAN-EEC economic projects with the EEC Commission in Brussels.

The Foreign Ministers of ASEAN and of Canada signed a Cooperation Agreement in New York on September 25, 1981 along the lines of a similar agreement signed earlier with the EEC.

ASEAN’s economic cooperation with its other dialgue partners – the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand – was likewise intensified.

At the same time, ASEAN continued to develop its links with other like-minded regional organizations: the South Pacific Forum, through its Bureau for Economic Cooperation (SPEC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

A new link has been initiated with the Gulf Cooperation Council based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Secretary General of the Council plans to visit the ASEAN Secretariat soon to explore the possibilities of establishing a mutually beneficial cooperative relationship with ASEAN.

Non-dialogue countries have also shown growing interest in ASEAN. The President of South Korea visited the ASEAN capitals in June 1981 and called for an expansion of economic relations.

Nigeria, an important country in West Africa and a member of OPECC, is strengthening its diplomatic representation in the ASEAN region.

Sri Lanka, a South Asian nation, submitted a formal application for membership in ASEAN. At the same time, several other countries have inquired about the possibilities of initiating cooperative relations with ASEAN.

In view of these developments, ASEAN Senior Officials have undertaken to formulate guidelines on the establishment and conduct of future dialogues, the designation of third countries as “observers” in Ministerial Meetings, and the acceptance of new members, for the consideration of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers.

ASEAN’s review of its own structure is also being intensified, with the aim of enhancing its efficiency in coping with its expanding activities. The Task Force on the Strengthening of the ASEAN Secretariat has held three meetings, considering in depth the question of enabling the Secretariat to function effectively as part of a growing organization.

WITH REGARD to the continued Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea, ASEAN has stood firm in its commitment to the principles of the UN Charter and welcomed the reconfirmation of the seat of the legitimate government of Democratic Kampuchea by the 1981 UN General Assembly.

At the initiative of ASEAN, the UN convened an International Conference on Kampuchea in July 1981 and, at its 36th session of the General Assembly in October 1981, endorsed the Declaration and Resolution of the said Conference. The Declaration provided the basis for negotiations among the parties concerned in order to bring about, inter alia, the withdrawal of foreign forces from Kampuchea, and the UN-supervised elections so as to restore Kampuchea as an independent and sovereign state, free from any external threat or armed aggression. The Resolution, inter alia, established an Ad Hoc Committee of the Conference to assist in the search for a solution to the Kampuchean problem.

At their meeting in London, the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN and the European Community deplored the continued presence of Vietnamese forces in Kampuchea and Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

Contacts between the leaders and officials of ASEAN and the dialogue partners have further deepened their mutual understanding especially as it related to ASEAN’s position and continuing efforts to achieve a political settlement in Kampuchea within the framework of the UN Resolutions

In September 1981, Singapore was the venue for a meeting of the leaders of the three major Kampuchean nationalist groups. The three leaders expressed their intent to form a coalition government committed to the liberation of Kampuchea and the holding of free elections to enable the Kampuchean people to freely determine their own future. As an aspect of its continuing search for a political solution to the Kampuchean problem, ASEAN has rendered its support to the on-going efforts of the three Kampuchean nationalist groups to form a coalition government.

THE PROGRESS it has achieved in economic, social and cultural cooperation, together with fresh evidences of its capacity for effective, concerted action in international fora on issues like the Kampuchean problem, has led to wider international acceptance of ASEAN as an increasingly viable community of nations joined together by common ideals and aspirations. The prospect for the future of ASEAN has never been brighter.

In the face of this pressing danger, ASEAN countries continued their determined effort to find a just political solution to the Kampuchean problem.

In August 1980, ASEAN welcomed the visit to Southeast Asia of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr. Kurt Waldheim. The visit has focussed international attention on the threat to peace arising from the continuing Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea.

In October 1980, the UN General Assembly reconfirmed the seat of the legitimate government of Democratic Kampuchea in the United Nations. It also adopted by overwhelming majority a resolution sponsored by ASEAN and a number of friendly governments from various regions of the world calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops and the holding of free internationally-supervised elections as essential elements of the desired political solution to the Kampuchean problem. The resolution also mandated the UN Secretary General to convene as soon as possible an international conference on Kampuchea.

In February 1981, the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, speaking in behalf of ASEAN at the Non-Aligned Meeting in New Delhi, succeeded in getting the Non-Aligned Movement to take cognizance for the first time of the Kampuchean problem and of the ASEAN position on the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Kampuchea. The joint declaration issued at the conclusion of the Meeting disproved the Vietnamese claim that there is no such thing as a Kampuchean problem.

These ASEAN achievements have a notable aspect that even the critics of ASEAN cannot deny or ignore; they are significant victories of moral and political power. ASEAN uncompromisingly upholding the UN Charter and the Bandung principles of peaceful co-existence, has aroused mankind’s conscience and marshalled world opinion in support of its just insistence that those principles be applied to a member state of the United Nations and of the Non-Aligned Movement which has fallen victim to aggression.

ASEAN’s initiatives have had far-reaching implications. They have strengthened the conviction of the international community that blatant aggression cannot be allowed to run rampant in today’s closely knit and increasingly interdependent world. They emphasized the linkage between the situation in Kampuchea and Afghanistan and stressed that such blatant aggression in both these countries ,is unacceptable to a world community striving to establish a new international community under the rule of law prescribed in the United Nations Charter. A clear line against aggression has been drawn which must henceforth give pause even to the most rabid of expansionist powers.

While Vietnam tries, fraudulently, to legitimize the Vietnamese-installed Heng Samrin regime by means of the so-called “elections” ASEAN seeks to galvanise world opinion for a political solution to the Kampuchean problem through the convening of a UN International Conference on Kampuchea.

The Soviet Union, which has refused to recognize ASEAN, attempted to persuade the ASEAN countries to accept the so-called Ho Chi Minh City proposal of Vietnam, Laos and occupied Kampuchea for a conference with ASEAN on regional problems presumably including that of Kampuchea. ASEAN replied with a joint statement, issued by the Chairman of the Standing Committee, which had the dual effect of affirming the identity and solidarity of ASEAN while rejecting a proposal which Vietnam had earlier withdrawn from the UN General Assembly where it had been exposed as a transparent effort to gain back-door recognition for the proxy Heng Samrin regime.

Responding to ASEAN’s request, UN Secretary General Waldheim in April 1981 sent a special representative, Mr. Mohamed Essafl, to various Asian capitals for consultations on the convening of the proposed International Conference on Kampuchea. ‘The results of these consultations, together with the soundings made by ASEAN leaders in the capitals of important prospective Annual Report of The ASEAN Standing Committee 1980 – 1981 participants in the Conference, were assessed by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers at their informal meeting in Jakarta in May 1981 on the occasion of the formal inauguration of the new ASEAN Secretariat building. They also expressed ASEAN support for the right of the Kampuchean people to choose their own leaders and to form a united front of resistance against foreign domination. They were of one mind in maintaining that while bilateral talks, such as those held with the Laotian Foreign Minister in several ASEAN capitals, were useful as preliminary steps towards the proposed International Conference on Kampuchea they could never be regarded as a substitute for the Conference itself.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed to suggest to the UN Secretary General a convenient date and venue for the proposed Conference and to ensure a broad and representative participation of concerned countries.

THE URGENCY and political prominence of the Kampuchean problem have overshadowed but not impeded ASEAN’s cooperative efforts in other fields. During the year under review, ASEAN not only continued to consolidate previous gains made in the various field of social and economic cooperation but further strengthened its organizational ties and opened up new fields of cooperative endeavor in non-political areas.

ASEAN Ministers of Industry, Energy, Environment, Health and Science and Technology met for the first time during the year and formulated various wide-ranging and far-reaching programmes of cooperation in the fields under their jurisdiction.

With regard to the industrial projects, construction of the urea fertilizer plant in Indonesia has started, and the financing agreement o a similar project for Malaysia is being finalized. A copper fabrication plant was adopted as the ASEAN Industrial Project for the Philippines. For Thailand the site for its soda ash plant has been finalized, and the diesel engine project allocated for Singapore is being considered.

Progress was also registered in third country relations with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United States and the European Economic Community. A major new project in human resources development, in support of which the Prime Minister of Japan offered a fund of US$ 100 million, is under priority study by the ASEAN Governments.

The increasing importance attached to ASEAN by its third country partners in economic cooperation was highlighted by two significant visits. Immediately upon his assumption of office, the new Australian Foreign Minister, Mr. Anthony Street, made a goodwill tour of the ASEAN countries. The new Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Zenko Suzuki, upon his election set aside the precedent established by his predecessors by visiting the ASEAN capitals before going to Washington D.C.

Within ASEAN itself, parliamentarians, jurists, private associations of professionals, traders, entrepreneurs, media representatives and others were busy forming ASEAN links and developing regional modes of cooperation amidst a cultural ferment symptomatic of a dynamic ASEAN community in the making.

The rapid growth of ASEAN’s activities necessitated a study of how to restructure ASEAN in order to enable the organization to function more efficiently. A task force has been formed to consider ways of strengthening the ASEAN Secretariat, now permanently housed in the new Secretariat building in Jakarta which was formally inaugurated on 9 May 1981 by the President of the Republic of Indonesia in the presence of ASEAN Foreign Ministers and the signatories of the Bangkok Declaration in solemn ceremonies at which it was hailed as a symbol of faith in ASEAN and of confidence that ASEAN’s lofty aims will be attained.

IT HAS BEEN aptly remarked that the best way to appreciate ASEAN is to imagine Southeast Asia without it. One can then immediately see that the security problem in the area would be severely aggravated. The strategic Malacca Strait, which is as crucially important to the region as the Persian Gulf is to the Middle East, would be more exposed and vulnerable. The resulting vacuum would be an open invitation to great- power intervention and surrogate invasion, subversion and intimidation.

ASEAN constitutes the cohesive center, the stable core which is helping to hold Southeast Asia together. It is emerging as one of the potential cornerstones of the proposed New Inter- national Economic Order. And because it is a dynamic Association, its constructive influence, radiating outwards, is being felt in other parts of the world.

Like the European Economic Community, member countries of the South Pacific Forum have proposed closer links and a programme of economic cooperation with ASEAN. A study group from the Economic Community of West Annual Report of The ASEAN Standing Committee 1980 – 1981 African States (ECOWAS) is visiting ASEAN countries in July this year to observe ASEAN activities and institutions. Among international agencies, IMCO (Inter-Goverenmental Maritime Consultative Organization) is the latest to propose an expanded program of cooperation with ASEAN. Interest in ASEAN is stirring in neutral Switzerland. A high-level seminar on ASEAN is scheduled to be held in Zurich in September 1981 at which a wide range of ASEAN activities will be examimed by a joint panel of European and ASEAN scholars and experts.

In April 1981, the Foreign Secretaries of seven South Asian nations met in Colombo, Sri Lanka to consider the feasibility of forming an association for economic cooperation frankly patterned after ASEAN. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, in economic cooperation frankly patterned after ASEAN. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, in expressing his country’s readiness to join ASEAN during his visits in Manila and Jakarta, suggested that Sri Lanka might serve as a link between the two groups of Asian nations.

THE SUCCESS of ASEAN is thus opening up the prospect of an era of peaceful, constructive and mutually beneficial ties across regional frontiers under the aegis of the United Nations, forming a network of stability and prosperity which might in time prove stronger and more attractive than the divisive and disruptive forces at work in the world today.

Food, science and technology, energy, health, information, communications, transportation, environment problems are recurring concerns and require that member governments devote more time, energy and resources to these topics. The increased interdependency of ASEAN countries, the growing partnership with their “dialogue” partners Australia, Canada, the member states of the European Community, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Nations – and the application of modem technology across broad social planes have resulted in mostly expanded programs and in a need for improved mechanisms to monitor, coordinate and evaluate these activities. On cooperation with third countries, the ASEAN Economic Ministers agreed that ASEAN should not dissipate its efforts on all front but should concentrate on shipping, energy and access to markets.

1980-1981 was a significant year for ASEAN economic cooperation. The economic ministers adopted new forms of economic cooperation to further intensify closer relations among member countries.

The ASEAN Economic Ministers on Industry met for the first time in Bali, Indonesia on 29-30 September 1980, and, among other things, produced the General Guidelines for ASEAN Industrial Complementation (AIC) that was to form the basis for the Basic Agreement on the ASEAN Industrial Complementation worked out by the Committee on Industry, Minerals and Energy (COIME). This was further revised by the Eleventh ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting held in Jakarta on 29-30 May 1981, and as of this writing, awaits formal signing by the Foreign Ministers in June in Manila.

The ASEAN Industry Ministers also approved two packages, one of Existing products and the other of New products, in the automotive industry for complementation. At the Eleventh Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Ministers, an expanded package of Existing automotive products was approved and finalized for implementation. Some bilateral non-tariff preferences had mean while been successfully negotiated by some member countries.

The year also saw significant progress in the ASEAN Industrial Projects (AIP) scheme with the adoption by the Industry Ministers of new procedures for financing ASEAN industrial projects. The Industry Ministers also agreed that since sufficient impetus had already been achieved towards greater industrial cooperation, the participation of all five member countries in an ASEAN project would no longer be an absolute necessity to proceed with the project. But non-participating countries should be consulted to ensure that their national interests are not adversely affected by the decision to proceed with an ASEAN industrial project.

On the ground, the ASEAN Urea Project (Indonesia) had taken off. Its construction contract was signed on 16 December 1980; an additional loan of US$ 90 million from Japan finalized on 30 March 1981; and construction of plant started in April for completion in three years’ time. The ASEAN Urea Project (Malaysia) also made progress. The project company, ASEAN Bintulu Fertilizer Sendirian Berhad, was officially incorporated on 6 December 1980 and a loan package of 48 billion yen (US$ 225 million) from Japan obtained. Based in Bintulu, Sarawak, the plant is targetted to be on stream in late 1984. The plant site for the ASEAN Rock Salt Soda Ash Project (Thailand) has now been decided upon and the project is pregared for take-off.

The AIP scheme was given a shot in the arm at the Eleventh ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting, where it was agreed that each country would be allowed to consider up to three ASEAN industrial projects at any one time without waiting for the first one to be implemented. This agreement is expected to accelerate the pace of industrial development of the ASEAN region.

The ASEAN Economic Minister on Energy Cooperation met twice during the year, first in Bali on 29-30 September 1980, and again in Kuala Lumpur on 27-30 April 1981.

At their first meeting, the Energy Ministers worked out a comprehensive programme for energy cooperation that comprises short-term, medium-term and long-term approaches. The such as emergency petroleum sharing and the continuation of bilateral assistance schemes in oil and natural gas between ASEAN countries. With regard to the immediate need to increase oil supplies for ASEAN member countries, Indonesia offered to undertake consultations with OPEC member countries in the Gulf area for additional oil supplies for ASEAN member countries to make up for the shortfall caused by the fighting between Iran and Iraq. The medium-term approach relates to cooperation in the exploration and development of oil and gas. And the long-term approach relates to cooperation in the development of alternative energy resources.

At their second meeting, the Energy Ministers adopted the programme of cooperation in coal drawn up by the Experts Group on Coal that met in Bandung, Indonesia on 6-7 April 198 1, as well as the programme of cooperation of the ASEAN Heads of Power Utilities and Authorities that met in Jakarta on 13-14 April 1981. These are wide-ranging programmes that promise to form the groundwork of a detailed and integrated blue-print for ASEAN energy cooperation in the years ahead. The Energy Ministers have also recommended the establishment of a “Committee on Energy Cooperation” to coordinate projects and activities related to this field.

In the field of food, agriculture and forestry, progress had also been made. The ASEAN Food Security Reserve Board (AFSRB) held its first meeting in Bangkok on 3-4 November 1980 and finalized its terms of reference. The feasibility study on the ASEAN Pesticide Manufacturing Plant is expected to start soon. Various projects under the ASEAN Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) were also being implemented, most notably the establishment of an ASEAN Common Quarantine Ring providing for common plant and animal protection in the ASEAN region, the pooling of research and technology in the agricultural field, and various activities related to the improvement of the life of the rural poor.

In the field of trade liberalization the item by item approach had, by the Eleventh AEM, reached a total figure of 6,58 1 trade preferences exchanged. Various countries had also Implemented the decision of the Ninth AEM Meeting to accord a 20% margin of profit on all items with import trade value of less than US$ 50,000 subject to exclusion lists on sensitive items. The Tenth AEM Meeting, in another bold move, decided to raise rates on existing tariff preferences to a minimum of 20-25% with effect from 1 April 1981. Then at the Eleventh AEM Meeting, a minor break-through was achieved when the Ministers agreed that a 20-25% margin of profit be accorded to all items with import value of less than US$ 500,000 subject to exclusion lists. COTT was also instructed to study, in general, other measures to expand intra ASEAN trade, and, in particular trade expansion in food products. Voluntary offers per member country is also to be raised from 600 to 800 items per year.

In the fields of transport and communications, steady progress was also chalked up on many fronts. A significant development was the adoption of the Resolution on Shipping and Trade by the Tenth ASEAN Economic Minister Meeting and its reaffirmation by the Eleventh AEM Meeting. In this connection, the Eleventh AEM Meeting directed the Committee on Transport and Communications (COTAC) to study the feasibility of setting up a regular ASEAN liner service.

In the field of civil aviation, the negotiations with Australia and the United Kingdom on the status of ASEAN airlines’ participation on the Kangaroo route was carried to a Successful conclusion when both Australia and the UK agreed substantially to ASEAN’s request concerning unrestricted access to the Australia-UK Super Apex Fare and the provision of a stop-over facility in ASEAN, effective I June 1981.

IN THE FIELD of cooperation in social development programmes, the First Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers of Health was held in Manila on 22-24 July , 1980 with the objective of strengthening and coordinating regional cooperation in health among ASEAN member countries, contributing to regional self-reliance and self- determination in the context of health for all by the year 2000.

The Health Ministers declared their agreement to attain this objective and adopted the following guidelines:

1. Ensure that collaboration contributes directly or indirectly towards regional self-reliance and self-determination;

2. Emphasize health as an integrated part of the overall socio-economic development;

3. Aim at making health care accessible to the total population, with priority being given to the underserved and depressed areas;

4. Promote health manpower development consistent with the needs of ASEAN countries;

5. Continue with international collaboration in health while striving to be self-reliant in the delivery of health services ; and

6. Emphasize primary health care in the overall health development strategy.

The Health Ministers also agreed on the following programme areas for collaboration: Primary Health Care; Disease Control; Health Planning, Management and Information System; Nutrition; Health Manpower Development; Environmental and Occupational Health; Pharmaceuticals, Biological and Traditional Medicine; and Mental Health.

IN THE FIELD of science and technology, the First Meeting of ASEAN Ministers of Science and Technology was held in Pattaya, Thailand on 27 and 28 0ctober 1980.

Conceived as a forum for exchanging concepts, views and ideas among participants from ASEAN countries, the Meeting discussed the existing scientific activities and noted their increasing importance for the development of the member countries. To strengthen cooperation in science and technology, they agreed to propose to their respective governments the following ways of cooperation:

1. ASEAN Ministers and officials of science and technology should meet to formulate policies and guidelines for ASEAN cooperation in the field of science and technology.

2. The feasibility of an ASEAN trust fund set up from international organizations and third countries should be studied in support of ASEAN cooperation in the field of science and technology for development and should be given urgent consideration at the next COST meeting.

3. Exchange of scientific and technological in- formation among ASEAN member countries through the Bureau of Science and Technology of the ASEAN Secretariat should encouraged.

4. Technical meetings and workshops among scientists and technologists should be encouraged to echange views and share knowledge.

5. Support by member countries should be given to recognized professional scientific societies in organizing cooperative activities.

6. Exchange of scientists and technologists among ASEAN countries to work in research institutions shall be undertaken.

7. Research and development institutions shall be strengthened.

,8. The Committee of Science and Technology shall be encouraged to formulate plans of action on science and technology.

9. Member countries will share information on science policy and planning periodically.

10. The Meeting agreed to request the Committee on Science and Technology to deal with scientific activities which are in the research and development stage while the other ASEAN committees are to deal with activities which have reached the commercial stage.

Concerned with the need to safeguard the ASEAN environment and its natural resources, the first ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment was held in Manila 30 April 1981.

The Environment Ministers declared their agreement to strengthen regional cooperation and collaboration in the field of environment. They adopted the following objective and policy guide- lines for ASEAN cooperation in this field:

Objective:

To ensure the protection of the ASEAN environment and the sustain-ability of its natural resources so that it can sustain continued development with the aim of eradicating poverty and attaining the highest possible quality of life for the people of the ASEAN countries.

Policy Guidelines.-

1. Foster a common awareness awareness-the people of the ASEAN countries of the biological, physical and social environment and its vital significance for sustained development to proceed apace;

2. Ensure, as far as practicable, that environmental considerations are taken into account in development efforts, both ongoing and future;

3. Encourage the enactment and enforcement of environmental protection measures in the ASEAN countries;

4. Foster the development of environmental education programs.

The Ministers agreed on the following priority areas:

a) Environmental Management including Environmental Impact Assessment;
b) Nature Conservation and Terrestrial Ecosystems;
c) Marine Environment;
d) Industry and Environment;
e) Environmental Education and Training; and
f) Environmental Information.

THE PAST year also saw a notable growth in ASEAN’s external I relations. All its dialogue partners: Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, the EEC and the UNDP have increased their proffers of cooperation.

In September 1980, ASEAN and the United States held a third dialogue, which reflects the continuing interest of the United States in ASEAN’s constructive work for the progress and stability of the region. ASEAN member countries are considering the proposed Memoranda of Understanding on Energy Cooperation and Tropical Medicine and Public Health Programme.

In November 1980, the first meeting of ASEAN-EEC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) was held in Manila to set in motion the implementation stage of the ASEAN-EEC Cooperation Agreement and adopted the rules of procedures of the JCC. ASEAN regards with great importance the formal commitment of the European Community to contribute to the development efforts of ASEAN within the framework of equity and mutual advantage. The agreement of cooperation with the EEC, ranks among the significant achievements of ASEAN since its establishment.

In October 1980, ASEAN experts prepared a memorandum finalizing details for the establishment of ASEAN Centres for Appropriate Technology (ACAT). This was a follow-up of a decision made during the Second Joint ASEAN-Japan Experts Meeting on Cooperation in Technology Transfer and Energy which recommended the establishment of appropriate technology centres in each ASEAN country. On 23 December 1980, ASEAN and Japan signed the Agreement on the Establishment of the ASEAN Promotion Centre on Trade, Investment and Tourism in Tokyo. ASEAN member government have ratified the Agreement.

ASEAN appreciates the proposal made by the Japanese Prime Minister during his visit to ASEAN on 8-20 January 1981 on the proposed establishment of a “Project for Human Resources Development”. ASEAN welcomed Japan’s assurances that in the implementation of the project, Japan would take into consideration the “wishes and ideas” of the ASEAN countries.

During the year under review, ASEAN and Canada signed two Memoranda of Understanding. The Memorandum of Understanding on the ASEAN-Canada Forest Tree Seed Centre Project was signed in Ottawa on 1 May 1981 by the Thai Foreign Minister on behalf of ASEAN and, by the Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, on behalf of Canada. The Memorandum of Understanding on the ASEAN-Canada Fisheries Post Harvest Technology Centre Project was signed in Manila on 21 May 1981 by the Philippine Foreign Minister, on behalf of ASEAN and, the Canadian Ambassador in Manila, on behalf of Canada. ASEAN member countries are presently considering the proposed Industrial Technical and Commercial Cooperation Agreement with Canada.

THE FIRST YEAR of the decade of the Eighties was a busy and significant period in the history of the ASEAN Secretariat which is located in Jakarta, Indonesia. With the growing number of ASEAN activities covering a vast range of areas of cooperation, the ASEAN Standing Cornmittee requested the Secretariat to prepare a working paper on the restructuring of ASEAN and the strengthening of the ASEAN Secretariat to enable it to fulfill its role in the expanding scope of regional cooperation.

In addition to its usual function of servicing meetings and conferences, and helping to facilitate coordination and monitoring of ASEAN activities, the ASEAN Secretariat also started a modest publishing program aimed at keeping everyone involved in ASEAN abreast of developments in the Association.

In May 1981, marking a milestone in ASEAN history, the Secretariat moved to its new building, a magnificent eight-storey edifice provided by the Indonesian Government, leaving, with some regret, its modest but comfortable and congenial temporary offices at the Department of Foreign Affairs compound on Jalan Taman Pejambon.

The new ASEAN Secretariat building, located on Jalan Sisingamangaraja, Kebayoran Baru,. was officially inaugurated by H.E. President Soeharto of Indonesia on May 9, 1981 in the presence of the Foreign Ministers of the member countries of ASEAN and the signatories of the Bangkok Declaration of August 8, 1967.

Home Based Staff of the ASEAN Secretariat

On July 1, 1980, H.E. Ambassador Narciso G. Reyes (of the Philippines) assumed the post of Secretary General of the ASEAN Secretariat, succeeding H.E. Datuk Ali Abdullah (of Malaysia), who had completed his two-year term.

At the beginning of the year, a new team of officers, seconded from the member countries, replaced the first generation officers of Home Based Staff who had completed their term of three years.

The present Home Based Staff of the Secretariat consist of the following:

Name (country)		: H.E. Ambassador Narciso
    			  G. Reyes (Philippines)
Position			: Secretary General
Date of Assumption		: I July 1980
Name (country)		: Dr. Chng Meng Kng
			  (Singapore)
Position			: Director of the Economic
             			Bureau
 Date of Assumption		: 12 October 1980
Name (country) 		: Dr.C.P.E. Luhulima (Indonesia)
Position 		  irector of the Bureau of
			 Science and Technology
 Date of Assumption		: 4 May 1980
 Name (country) 		:Mr. Sarawudh Kongsiri
 			 (Thailand)
 Position		  irector of the Social and
  			 Cultural Affairs
 Date of Assumption		: I July 1980
 Name (country) 		: Mr. Caesar Atienza
 			 (Philippines)
 Position			: Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Officer
 Date of Assumption 		: 29 March 1980
 Name (country)		: Mrs. Subijartani Santhoso
 			 (Indonesia)
 Position 			: Administrative Officer
 Date of Assumption		: 11 January 1980
 Name (country)		: Mr. Jerry M. Reyes (Philippines)
 Position			: Public Information Officer
 Date of Assumption		: 15 February 1980
Name (country)
Name (country) 		: Mr. Abdul, Wahab Harun
 			 (Malaysia)
 Position 			: Assistant to the Secretary General
 Date of Assumption		: 10 October 1979

Finance and Administration

The approved budget of the ASEAN Secretariat for the Financial Year 1980-1981 (June 1, 1 980 to May 31, 1981) amounted to US$ 635,528. Based on equal contribution, each member country’s share amounted to US$ 127,105. However, the Secretariat incurred some savings from the previous year’s budget amounting to US$ 69,839. This was carried over to the current year, thus reducing the total contribution of member countries to US$ 565,717 which was shared equally.

With the transfer of the ASEAN Secretariat to its new building, an additional budget of US$ 41,140, was approved by the Special Budget Committee Meeting in November 1980, to cover the additional expenses for the three remaining months of the financial year 1980-1981 (March, April and May 1981).

Time Deposit

On January 6, 1981, the ASEAN Secretariat deposited US$ 50,000 for a one-month time deposit at an interest rate of 12.75% per year. The interest earned on February 6, 1980 was US$ 433.25

ASEAN Cultural Fund

Since November 1, 1979, the entire Cultural Fund of five billion yen as contributed by the Japanese Government, and the total interest earned from time deposits amounting to Y 122,060,851 has been managed by two financial institutions in ASEAN countries. These are the Singapore-Japan Merchant Bank Ltd. in Singapore and the Bumiputra Merchant Bankers Berhad in Kuala Lumpur.

During the period November 1979 to February 28, 1981, the total income amounted to US$ 3,141,032.6

Fourth Annual Meeting of the ASEAN Budget Committee

The Meeting, convened in Jakarta May 11-13 1981, was presided by Indonesia, the second year of its chairmanship of the committee. The Chairmanship of the ASEAN Budget Committee rotates in alphabetic order among the five member countries at three-year intervals.

The Meeting considered the annual budget proposal of the ASEAN Secretariat for the financial year 1981/1982, and other financial matters concerning the ASEAN Secretariat.

Official Travel

The Home Based Staff attended eight ASEAN Ministerial Meetings, all the ASEAN Standing Committees and most of the other ASEAN committee meetings, and meetings with dialogue countries during the financial year 1980/1981.

The total number of meetings and seminars attended was 77, and the amount of US$ 51,550.23 was spent for travel fares and per them allowances.

In the previous financial year (1979-1980) 90 travel authorizations were granted, while the travel fares and subsistence reached US$ 69,3000.53.

Meetings held at the ASEAN Secretariat during the financial year 1980/81

1. September 1980 – Second Joint ASEAN-Japan Experts Meeting on Cooperation in Technology Transfer and Energy.

2. January 1981 – Consultative Meeting of the Experts Group of the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science and Technology for Development.

3. February 1981 – Expert Meeting of the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science and Technology for Develoment.

4. March and April 1981 – Preparatory Meetings of the Committee for the Inauguration Of the ASEAN Secretariat.

5. May 1981 – Fourth Budget Committee Meeting.

6. May 1981 – Task Force Meeting on the Strengthening of the ASEAN Secretariat.

7. May 1981 – Fifth ASEAN Audit Committee Meeting.

8. May 1981 – Eleventh Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Ministers.

9. June 1981 – Second Meeting of the Advisory Group of the ASEAN Cultural Fund.

10. June 1981 – Meeting of Government Representatives on the ASEAN Opinion Multipliers Project.

Based on the scheme of rotation as approved by the Fifth ASEAN Standing Committee Meeting in Singapore (June 1977), members of the Fifth ASEAN Audit Committee Meeting were Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines. The Meeting was chaired by the Philippines.

In the line with Rule 10.2 of the Financial Rules of the ASEAN Secretariat, the Report was submitted to the Chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee.

Public Information

The ASEAN Secretariat’s public information activities were streamlined at the start of the year under with the implementation of a new public information programme. This was focussed initially on the issuance of new publications called the ASEAN Newsletter, the ASEAN Documentation Series and the Calendar of ASEAN meeting and activities.

ASEAN Newsletter

This serves as a bulletin of record of ASEAN’s growing number of activities and projects. The aim is to provide useful and reliable information on ASEAN activities and projects and to chronicle current developments in the region of interest to ASEAN.

The Newsletter contains factual reports on current activities of both the governmental and non-governmental sectors of ASEAN. It has the following regular sections: news round-up; important official statements; “Dialogue” reports; guidelines, country or staff papers; and a calendar of ASEAN meetings.

The first issue of the Newsletter came out in September 1980. It is produced monthly.

Documentation Series

Inserts of important ASEAN documents are also issued together with the Newsletter The Documentation Series is produced in a uniform format and size, suitable for easy reference and filing.

Circulation

To determine the type and quantity of publications to be disseminated, the Secretariat is compiling a mailing list of readers for its publications according to the following categories:

a. Senior and junior government officials in ASEAN.

b. ASEAN officials and participants in ASEAN meetings.

c. ASEAN diplomatic missions overseas.

d. Foreign diplomatic missions in ASEAN countries.

e. Press (foreign and local).

f. Libraries, schools and higher institutions of learning.

g. UN and other International Organizations.

h. Other interested parties.

Distribution of the Newsletter, and Documentation Series and other publications is done through the ASEAN National Secretariats and channeled through the ASEAN Embassies in Jakarta. The Secretariat intends to eventually mail its publications directly to readers.

Feed back

The feedback on these new publications have been encouraging. Since the first issue of the Newsletter and the Documentation Series came out in September 1980, the Secretariat has been receiving letters requesting copies of these publications regularly. Such requests come mostly from ASEAN diplomatic mission overseas, the foreign of diplomatic missions in ASEAN countries, inter- national organizations, educational institutions, and observers in the ASEAN region.

The Newsletter’s section on “Dialogue” has especially attracted the cooperation of the embassies of ASEAN’s third country partners in Jakarta. The section features developments and progress reports of projects which are being assisted by them and informational support has been extended to the Secretariat regularly.

ASEAN Documentation Center

The ASEAN Documentation Centre, which is under the supervision of the Public Information Officer continues to render information services to ASEAN officials. Its main task is that of collecting all ASEAN reports and documents for safe-keeping, filing, and indexing. As custodian of ASEAN documents, the Centre contains about six hundred volumes of ASEAN reports and about five hundred copies of non-ASEAN materials and books acquired mostly through donations and exchanges.

The Documentation Centre also subscribes to ten daily newspapers and seven weekly news magazines.

A UNDP project to assist the Secretariat’s Documentation Centre is still pending details of the project are still being worked out.

Other information activities

Earlier during the year, in observance of the 13th anniversary of ASEAN on August 8, 1980, the Secretariat prepared a number of press article that found print in most of Jakarta’s leading English newspapers.

The Secretariat was also actively involved in the preparation for the inauguration of the new ASEAN Secretariat building in Kebayoran Baru. Among the principal tasks it was assigned to do were the coordination of arrangements for press and television coverage and the preparation of a commemorative brochure on ASEAN that was distributed in that occasion.

In the face of this pressing danger, ASEAN countries continued their determined effort to find a just political solution to the Kampuchean problem.

In August 1980, ASEAN welcomed the visit to Southeast Asia of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr. Kurt Waldheim. The visit has focussed international attention on the threat to peace arising from the continuing Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea.

In October 1980, the UN General Assembly reconfirmed the seat of the legitimate government of Democratic Kampuchea in the United Nations. It also adopted by overwhelming majority a resolution sponsored by ASEAN and a number of friendly governments from various regions of the world calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops and the holding of free internationally-supervised elections as essential elements of the desired political solution to the Kampuchean problem. The resolution also mandated the UN Secretary General to convene as soon as possible an international conference on Kampuchea.

In February 1981, the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, speaking in behalf of ASEAN at the Non-Aligned Meeting in New Delhi, succeeded in getting the Non-Aligned Movement to take cognizance for the first time of the Kampuchean problem and of the ASEAN position on the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Kampuchea. The joint declaration issued at the conclusion of the Meeting disproved the Vietnamese claim that there is no such thing as a Kampuchean problem.

These ASEAN achievements have a notable aspect that even the critics of ASEAN cannot deny or ignore; they are significant victories of moral and political power. ASEAN uncompromisingly upholding the UN Charter and the Bandung principles of peaceful co-existence, has aroused mankind’s conscience and marshalled world opinion in support of its just insistence that those principles be applied to a member state of the United Nations and of the Non-Aligned Movement which has fallen victim to aggression.

ASEAN’s initiatives have had far-reaching implications. They have strengthened the conviction of the international community that blatant aggression cannot be allowed to run rampant in today’s closely knit and increasingly interdependent world. They emphasized the linkage between the situation in Kampuchea and Afghanistan and stressed that such blatant aggression in both these countries ,is unacceptable to a world community striving to establish a new international community under the rule of law prescribed in the United Nations Charter. A clear line against aggression has been drawn which must henceforth give pause even to the most rabid of expansionist powers.

While Vietnam tries, fraudulently, to legitimize the Vietnamese-installed Heng Samrin regime by means of the so-called “elections” ASEAN seeks to galvanise world opinion for a political solution to the Kampuchean problem through the convening of a UN International Conference on Kampuchea.

The Soviet Union, which has refused to recognize ASEAN, attempted to persuade the ASEAN countries to accept the so-called Ho Chi Minh City proposal of Vietnam, Laos and occupied Kampuchea for a conference with ASEAN on regional problems presumably including that of Kampuchea. ASEAN replied with a joint statement, issued by the Chairman of the Standing Committee, which had the dual effect of affirming the identity and solidarity of ASEAN while rejecting a proposal which Vietnam had earlier withdrawn from the UN General Assembly where it had been exposed as a transparent effort to gain back-door recognition for the proxy Heng Samrin regime.

Responding to ASEAN’s request, UN Secretary General Waldheim in April 1981 sent a special representative, Mr. Mohamed Essafl, to various Asian capitals for consultations on the convening of the proposed International Conference on Kampuchea. ‘The results of these consultations, together with the soundings made by ASEAN leaders in the capitals of important prospective Annual Report of The ASEAN Standing Committee 1980 – 1981 participants in the Conference, were assessed by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers at their informal meeting in Jakarta in May 1981 on the occasion of the formal inauguration of the new ASEAN Secretariat building. They also expressed ASEAN support for the right of the Kampuchean people to choose their own leaders and to form a united front of resistance against foreign domination. They were of one mind in maintaining that while bilateral talks, such as those held with the Laotian Foreign Minister in several ASEAN capitals, were useful as preliminary steps towards the proposed International Conference on Kampuchea they could never be regarded as a substitute for the Conference itself.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed to suggest to the UN Secretary General a convenient date and venue for the proposed Conference and to ensure a broad and representative participation of concerned countries.

THE URGENCY and political prominence of the Kampuchean problem have overshadowed but not impeded ASEAN’s cooperative efforts in other fields. During the year under review, ASEAN not only continued to consolidate previous gains made in the various field of social and economic cooperation but further strengthened its organizational ties and opened up new fields of cooperative endeavor in non-political areas.

ASEAN Ministers of Industry, Energy, Environment, Health and Science and Technology met for the first time during the year and formulated various wide-ranging and far-reaching programmes of cooperation in the fields under their jurisdiction.

With regard to the industrial projects, construction of the urea fertilizer plant in Indonesia has started, and the financing agreement o a similar project for Malaysia is being finalized. A copper fabrication plant was adopted as the ASEAN Industrial Project for the Philippines. For Thailand the site for its soda ash plant has been finalized, and the diesel engine project allocated for Singapore is being considered.

Progress was also registered in third country relations with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United States and the European Economic Community. A major new project in human resources development, in support of which the Prime Minister of Japan offered a fund of US$ 100 million, is under priority study by the ASEAN Governments.

The increasing importance attached to ASEAN by its third country partners in economic cooperation was highlighted by two significant visits. Immediately upon his assumption of office, the new Australian Foreign Minister, Mr. Anthony Street, made a goodwill tour of the ASEAN countries. The new Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Zenko Suzuki, upon his election set aside the precedent established by his predecessors by visiting the ASEAN capitals before going to Washington D.C.

Within ASEAN itself, parliamentarians, jurists, private associations of professionals, traders, entrepreneurs, media representatives and others were busy forming ASEAN links and developing regional modes of cooperation amidst a cultural ferment symptomatic of a dynamic ASEAN community in the making.

The rapid growth of ASEAN’s activities necessitated a study of how to restructure ASEAN in order to enable the organization to function more efficiently. A task force has been formed to consider ways of strengthening the ASEAN Secretariat, now permanently housed in the new Secretariat building in Jakarta which was formally inaugurated on 9 May 1981 by the President of the Republic of Indonesia in the presence of ASEAN Foreign Ministers and the signatories of the Bangkok Declaration in solemn ceremonies at which it was hailed as a symbol of faith in ASEAN and of confidence that ASEAN’s lofty aims will be attained.

IT HAS BEEN aptly remarked that the best way to appreciate ASEAN is to imagine Southeast Asia without it. One can then immediately see that the security problem in the area would be severely aggravated. The strategic Malacca Strait, which is as crucially important to the region as the Persian Gulf is to the Middle East, would be more exposed and vulnerable. The resulting vacuum would be an open invitation to great- power intervention and surrogate invasion, subversion and intimidation.

ASEAN constitutes the cohesive center, the stable core which is helping to hold Southeast Asia together. It is emerging as one of the potential cornerstones of the proposed New Inter- national Economic Order. And because it is a dynamic Association, its constructive influence, radiating outwards, is being felt in other parts of the world.

Like the European Economic Community, member countries of the South Pacific Forum have proposed closer links and a programme of economic cooperation with ASEAN. A study group from the Economic Community of West Annual Report of The ASEAN Standing Committee 1980 – 1981 African States (ECOWAS) is visiting ASEAN countries in July this year to observe ASEAN activities and institutions. Among international agencies, IMCO (Inter-Goverenmental Maritime Consultative Organization) is the latest to propose an expanded program of cooperation with ASEAN. Interest in ASEAN is stirring in neutral Switzerland. A high-level seminar on ASEAN is scheduled to be held in Zurich in September 1981 at which a wide range of ASEAN activities will be examimed by a joint panel of European and ASEAN scholars and experts.

In April 1981, the Foreign Secretaries of seven South Asian nations met in Colombo, Sri Lanka to consider the feasibility of forming an association for economic cooperation frankly patterned after ASEAN. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, in economic cooperation frankly patterned after ASEAN. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, in expressing his country’s readiness to join ASEAN during his visits in Manila and Jakarta, suggested that Sri Lanka might serve as a link between the two groups of Asian nations.

THE SUCCESS of ASEAN is thus opening up the prospect of an era of peaceful, constructive and mutually beneficial ties across regional frontiers under the aegis of the United Nations, forming a network of stability and prosperity which might in time prove stronger and more attractive than the divisive and disruptive forces at work in the world today.