THE 34TH ASEAN SUMMIT BANGKOK, 23 JUNE 2019 ASEAN POLITICAL-SECURITY COMMUNITY

We reaffirmed the importance of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) as the key code of conduct governing inter-State relations in the region and underscored its relevance to the wider region. We welcomed the interest of non-regional countries to accede to the TAC, displaying their political will and commitment to ASEAN’s fundamental principles in promoting peace, friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation among nations.

We reiterated our commitment to preserve the Southeast Asian region as a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and free of all other weapons of mass destruction as enshrined in the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone (SEANWFZ Treaty) and the ASEAN Charter. We stressed the importance of the full and effective implementation of the SEANWFZ Treaty, including under the Plan of Action to Strengthen the Implementation of the SEANWFZ Treaty (2018-2022). We reaffirmed our commitment to continuously engage the Nuclear Weapon States (NWS) and intensify the ongoing efforts of all Parties to resolve all outstanding issues in accordance with the objectives and principles of the SEANWFZ Treaty. Our ASEAN experts could explore ways to bridge the differences, including the possibility of engaging with NWS experts. We will continue to submit the biennial SEANWFZ Resolution through the First Committee to the UNGA.


We agreed to strengthen cooperation on border management as reflected in the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, and in accordance with respective domestic laws and policies, to better safeguard the increasingly interconnected and integrated ASEAN Community by having the relevant sectoral bodies discuss common concerns such as transnational crimes, trafficking in persons, illegal timber and wildlife trafficking, illicit drug trafficking and cross-border challenges including pandemics while facilitating cross-border trade and movement of people. To this end we looked forward to discussions under relevant sectoral bodies to further enhance the effectiveness of existing relevant ASEAN mechanisms on border management cooperation and explore possible border management cooperation arrangements.

We acknowledged that the defence sectoral body, under the ambit of the ADMM, continues to consolidate its work this year under the theme of 3S’s, namely: (i) Sustainable Security; (ii) Strengthening, consolidating and optimising defence cooperation; and (iii) Supporting cross-pillar and cross-sectoral activities. The Leaders welcomed the inclusion of the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine (ACMM) as a subsidiary body under the ADMM in Annex 1 of the ASEAN Charter. We look forward to a number of major exercises and activities to be conducted under the ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Groups (EWG), which will culminate in the work of the current 2017-2020 cycle. We welcomed the new set of CoChairs of the EWG for the upcoming 2020-2023 cycle starting at the ADSOM-Plus in 2020 in Viet Nam, which have been recently endorsed to move forward with practical defence cooperation in the areas of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations, maritime security, counter-terrorism, military medicine, humanitarian mine action and cybersecurity.

We agreed to enhance cybersecurity cooperation and the building of an open, secure, stable, accessible and resilient cyberspace supporting the digital economy of the ASEAN region through a feasible coordination mechanism for ASEAN cyber discussions, implementing practical confidence-building measures and adopting a set of common, voluntary and nonbinding norms of responsible State behaviour in cyberspace as per the ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on Cybersecurity Cooperation, including the Ministers' guidance in developing an ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025, as well as supporting the cybersecurity activities and training programmes of the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (ASCCE) in Singapore and the ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre (AJCCBC) in Bangkok, which will complement existing ASEAN efforts in cybersecurity capacity-building.

We commended the significant progress made and reaffirmed our commitment in the fight against transnational crimes, particularly in the areas of trafficking in persons and counter-terrorism, including by strengthening cross-sectoral and cross-pillar collaboration through the full implementation of the Bohol Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Work Plan 2017- 2020 and the development of the Work Plan of the ASEAN Plan of Action to Prevent and Counter the Rise of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism 2018-2025. We reaffirmed our commitment to addressing the scourge of drugs through the delivery of the Joint ASEAN Statement at the Ministerial Segment of the 62nd Session of the Commission on Narcotics Drugs (CND) in March 2019 and the Joint ASEAN Statement Against Legalisation of Controlled Drugs at the 5 th CND Intersessional Meeting in November 2018, thereby reaffirming ASEAN’s unity in maintaining a zero tolerance approach to drugs and promoting communities free of drug abuse.

We commended the work of the ASEAN Law Ministers Meeting (ALAWMM) and the ASEAN Senior Law Officials Meeting (ASLOM) in the field of legal and judicial cooperation including on the issue of extradition and further encourage them to commence deliberation on an ASEAN Extradition Treaty. We were pleased to note further achievement in judicial cooperation in the form of endorsement by ASEAN Member States to elevate the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters into an ASEAN Treaty and welcomed the elevation of the ASEAN Ministers/Attorneys-General Meeting of the Central Authorities on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (AMAG-MLAT) and the Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Central Authorities on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (SOM-MLAT) as an ASEAN Sectoral Bodies under the ASEAN Political-Security Community in Annex 1 of the ASEAN Charter.

We reaffirmed our commitment to promoting tolerance, moderation and respect for diversity as well as to promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms as they are core principles of ASEAN, and in this context, we underscored the importance of addressing effectively the challenges posed by violent extremism.

We noted with satisfaction the progress of AICHR in the promotion and protection of human rights in ASEAN. We also noted that this year, 2019, marks a decade of the establishment of AICHR. In this regard, we encourage AICHR to further continue its work in mainstreaming human rights across all three pillars of the ASEAN Community and in implementing its mandate to promote and protect human rights in a full and effective manner.

We were pleased to note the progress made on the consideration of Timor-Leste’s application for ASEAN Membership, with all three Pillars preparing for their respective factfinding missions to Timor-Leste, and look forward to the outcomes of the aforementioned missions. We also reiterated our readiness to provide capacity-building assistance to Timor-Leste.

We took note of the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR)’s efforts in promoting peace, conflict management and conflict resolution through its various activities.