US President Barack Obama holds a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on November 22, 2015, following his participation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit.
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The 2015 ASEAN Chairman, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, in his closing speech, said the establishment of the single community proved worldwide that ASEAN could become the most competitive region in Asia-Pacific and have influence on the world stage.
Modi underlined the need for settling territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea through peaceful means. He said ASEAN has provided a platform for broader cooperation in the region.
Even though, BBC reported that the ASEAN community will not be a tariff-free trade zone for the Member States, Najib said that in “practice, we have virtually eliminated tariff barriers between us”.
Twelve years in the making, the Asean Community is a landmark in the 48-year history of a group founded at the height of the Cold War as an anti-communist bulwark.
“Further, it actively contributes to the creation of a rules-based approach in managing inter-State relations in the region”, he said.
The ASEAN community includes a political, security and sociocultural dimension in a region with governments ranging from communist in Vietnam and quasi-military in Myanmar, to the kingdom of Brunei and the democracy of the Philippines.
“Parties must also redouble efforts for early adoption of a Code of Conduct on the basis of consensus”, Modi said, without naming any country.
China is ASEAN’s biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching nearly $400 billion in the first 10 months of 2015.
Listing five key objectives for the East Asia Summit members to follow, Prime Minister Modi said firstly the EAS must continue to support the evolution of an inclusive, balanced, transparent and open regional architecture for security and cooperation.
Other leaders who signed the declaration were Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Myanmar President Thein Sein, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan O-Cha and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi also addressed and attended the 27 ASEAN summit and drew attention of world leaders to India and invited them to invest in India.
He also said that their new union would lead their affiliation for several decades in the future.
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Washington says navigation in a sea through which much of the world’s trade passes could be threatened by actions such as China’s island-building.
