ASEAN, Australia Sign MoU on Australia for ASEAN Futures Initiative

Jakarta: The Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi and Australia’s Ambassador to ASEAN Will Nankervis have signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Australia for ASEAN Futures Initiative (Aus4 ASEAN Futures Initiative) at the ASEAN Secretariat.
 
Held on Monday, the ceremony was attended by the Permanent Representatives of ASEAN Member States, led by the Permanent Representative of Laos to ASEAN as the Country Coordinator for ASEAN-Australia Dialogue Relations, Ambassador Bovonethat Douangchak.
 
"Not only does it intend to address complex regional challenges such as health security, along with promoting the circular economy, the Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative will also support the practical implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific and enable greater support for cross-sectoral initiatives across all three ASEAN Community Pillars," the ASEAN Secretary-General said in a press release on Monday.

"ASEAN is pleased to note that this expansion includes the ASEAN Political Security and the Socio-Cultural Communities, as well as the ASEAN Economic Community supported under Australia for ASEAN – Economic and Connectivity, the successor programme to the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II (AADCP II)," he added.
 
The MoU on the Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative will facilitate flexible and demand driven development cooperation activities between ASEAN and Australia, by providing an overarching framework under which development cooperation programmes may be jointly identified, designed, implemented, monitored, and evaluated.
 
"The MoU we are signing today on the Australia for ASEAN Futures Initiative is an important step in advancing the ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP). Australia is committed to ensuring our CSP delivers real substance for ASEAN, Australia and the region. The Futures Initiative is an important part of that substance," the Australian Ambassador said.
 
"It will take forward projects jointly agreed between ASEAN and Australia that address complex challenges like climate change, health security, transnational crime, healthy oceans, the circular economy and energy transition. It will provide a flexible mechanism that supports all three ASEAN community pillars – economic, socio-cultural and political-security – as well as crosscutting issues including connectivity," he added.
    
The design of the successor programme to the flagship ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II (AADCP II), Australia for ASEAN – Economic and Connectivity (Aus4ASEAN-ECON), as well as the future programmes to support ASEAN Political-Security Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community under the newly signed MoU, are jointly being developed by ASEAN and Australia.

 
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