AMM-56: US Secretary of State stresses ASEAN’s centrality

The relationship with ASEAN is at the heart of the US’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific and both the US Indo-Pacific Strategy and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific underscore the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s centrality, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has affirmed.

“We share a vision of an Indo-Pacific that is free, open, prosperous, secure, connected, and resilient,” Blinken told the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with the US within the framework of the 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-56) in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 14.

The US has worked so hard to put the ASEAN-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was upgraded last year, into concrete action.

“We are delivering on the issues that matter most to the lives of our people: expanding access to the Internet and other technologies that small businesses and entrepreneurs need to compete in the 21st century economy; helping communities adapt to the growing effects of a warming climate, and building their resilience to the changes to come; improving the capacity of health systems to deliver on basic needs like maternal and child health,” he stated.

Regarding the Myanmar issue, the official stressed the need to implement ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus, adding that on July 13, the US announced over 74 million USD in additional humanitarian relief to the region, including nearly 61 million USD to support Rohingya displaced by ongoing violence in Myanmar.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi expressed her belief that the conference will lead to new commitments to strengthen cooperation in more concrete ways between the two sides, thus contributing to peace and stability in the region.

She proposed the US maintain its support for ASEAN's centrality and “Epicentrum of Growth” status.

This year, ASEAN starts to integrate the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) with all partners, including the US. The goal of AOIP is to promote concrete cooperation and bring about benefits for people in four priority areas of maritime affairs, connectivity, sustainable development goals, and economic affairs, she added./.

VNA