4 December 2003 - Secretary of Foreign Affairs Blas Ople announced today that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Government of Japan will hold a Commemorative Summit on December 11-12 in Tokyo to celebrate 30 years of ASEAN-Japan relations.

The Summit is a watershed event because it will be the first time that ASEAN heads of state will hold a Summit outside of the ASEAN region. Meetings with an ASEAN Dialogue Partner are normally held in ASEAN countries in conjunction with the annual ASEAN Summit. The ASEAN-Japan Summit caps the ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year 2003, a yearlong celebration of three decades of friendly relations.

Japan is expected to announce its continued support for ASEAN during the Summit and promote sincere and open partnership with all member countries. ASEAN and Japan are expected to sign a declaration that will reaffirm the basic direction of future ASEAN-Japan cooperation and give a broad guideline of ASEAN-Japan relationship. Specific measures towards its enactment, as well as efforts to initiate formal negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEP) with Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia, are also expected to be discussed.

The Summit will cover cooperation in the political-security, development, economic, and social and cultural fields.

In his speech concluding his visits to the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore in January 2002, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed five initiatives to strengthen Japan’s cooperative relationship with ASEAN based on the spirit of “act together, advance together.”

These initiatives are the promotion of education and human resources development among ASEAN countries, a Japan-ASEAN CEP, the Initiative for Development in East Asia, the strengthening of ASEAN-Japan security cooperation on transnational issues such as terrorism, and the designation of 2003 as the ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year.

The exchange year aims to increase mutual understanding, enhance friendly relations, and generate awareness on the growing maturity of ASEAN-Japan relations through the promotion of exchanges in a wide range of areas.

The first ASEAN-Japan Summit was held in 1977, ten years after the establishment of ASEAN. Along with the US, Japan is the largest trading partner of ASEAN and the biggest source of investment and tourists from outside the region. Japan also provides 28.3% of its total bilateral Official development Assistance to ASEAN, which is Japan’s second largest trading partner following the US. – END