Thai PM urges ASEAN leaders to build successful community
ASEAN leaders and the bloc's secretary-general Dr.Surin Pitsuwan (extreme right) during the photo session
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday urged the leaders within the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to intensify their efforts in establishing the regional bloc as a successful community.
In his address to mark the official opening of the 14th ASEAN Summit at Dusit Thani Hua Hin Hotel in Cha-am, Phetchaburi Province, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told the leaders of other ASEAN membered countries that their intensified efforts would be a significant force in promoting a peaceful and stable regional bloc.
In order to make ASEAN as a political-security community, he said, the member countries need to proceed with the shaping and sharing of regional norms and codes of conduct which would reinforce trust and confidence amongst their peoples and within the region.
To become a successful economic community, he said, the ASEAN members need to accelerate the development of an attractive single market and production base that will help attract foreign trade and investment.
On the socio-cultural side, the Thai premier said ASEAN need to become a more sharing and caring society, ensuring that the human security needs of the peoples within the region would be met.
He also pointed out that, in order to make ASEAN more rules-based community, ASEAN must be credible and transparent in the way it conducts business.
The ASEAN Summit, ending today, is the first gathering of the regional leaders since the group has signed its landmark charter in December. The document made the regional association a legal entity and is considered as a key step towards the goal of establishing ASEAN community by 2015.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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