Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
July 11, 2012
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the
establishment of U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) relations.
Our relationship is broad-based, multifaceted, and
strategic – encompassing cooperation across ASEAN's political-security,
economic, and socio-cultural communities.
€
Enhancing Engagement
and Dialogue:
The United States has substantially deepened our
relationship with ASEAN through formal meetings with a range of ASEAN bodies at
the senior, policy- and working-levels, as well as ongoing cooperation with the
Committee of Permanent Representatives and ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.
Examples of our engagement include:
President Obama
inaugurated United States membership in the East Asia Summit (EAS) with his
participation in November 2011 Summit in Bali. President Obama has co-chaired
three consecutive U.S.-ASEAN Leaders Meetings.
Secretary Clinton has been a dedicated and active
participant in the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference, the ASEAN Regional Forum,
and EAS Foreign Ministers meetings. The United States is a member of the ASEAN
Defense Ministers Meeting Plus, and Secretary Panetta participated in an
informal meeting with ASEAN Defense Ministers in 2011.
The first U.S. resident ambassador to ASEAN, David
Carden, has led the U.S. Mission to ASEAN since April 2011. The United States
is one of only two ASEAN Dialogue Partners to have a resident Ambassador to
ASEAN in Jakarta.
The State Department reorganized bureaucratically to
assign its first ever Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and
Pacific Multilateral Affairs and Strategy and to open a new Office of
Multilateral Affairs in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs focused on
the region’s multilateral institutions.
The first meeting of the U.S.-ASEAN Eminent Persons
Group was held in Manila in May 2012. The group will issue its report to
President Obama and ASEAN leaders later this year.
€€
We will welcome the ASEAN Committee of Permanent
Representatives to the United States for a study visit later this year.
€
The ASEAN Development Vision to Advance National
Cooperation and Economic Integration (the ADVANCE program), supported jointly
by the State Department and USAID, implements approximately 40 activities each
year to support human rights promotion and protection, narrow the development
gap among ASEAN member countries, and enhance economic integration.
The Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), established in
2009, advances cooperation among the Lower Mekong sub-region in the areas of
connectivity, health, education and the environment.
U.S. assistance and cooperation in the LMI complements
broader U.S. public and private support for ASEAN’s ambitious Connectivity
Initiative, helping to narrow the gap between the least and most prosperous
members of ASEAN.
Promoting Economic Ties and Support for ASEAN
Connectivity: The United States strives to expand our trade relationship and
economic cooperation with ASEAN to support ASEAN’s integration goals and
increase opportunities for American businesses in the region.
The United States and ASEAN are each other’s’ fourth
largest trading partners.
U.S. departments and agencies have extensive economic
activities and programs with ASEAN including:
Secretary Clinton will lead the U.S. delegation to the
"Commitment to Connectivity: The U.S.-ASEAN Business Forum" on July
13 in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The Forum will bring together senior U.S. and ASEAN
government officials and business leaders to support ASEAN’s connectivity
agenda and strengthen U.S. and ASEAN business-to-business ties. Co-hosted by
the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the event
will also feature Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Thai Prime Minister
Yingluck Shinawatra, Burmese President Thein Sein, and numerous ASEAN
ministers.
The Connectivity Cooperation Initiative, supported by
the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and announced by President Obama
at the November 2011 U.S.-ASEAN Leaders Meeting, aims to increase U.S. private
sector support for ASEAN’s connectivity efforts. USTDA convened the
Initiative’s first activity – a workshop on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster
Management Workshop – in May in Bangkok and will host a workshop related to
smart grids across ASEAN in November 2012 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The United States, led by the Office of the U.S. Trade
Representative (USTR), works with ASEAN through the U.S.-ASEAN Trade and
Investment Framework Arrangement to support regional trade, investment, and
economic integration.
Through this effort, the United States and ASEAN are
introducing new trade initiatives on digital connectivity, healthcare services,
agribusiness, and consumer goods, and will hold the U.S.-ASEAN Business Summit
at the ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in August in Cambodia. USTR has also
led the United States’ engagement in support of Laos’ efforts to accede to the
World Trade Organization.
€
The United States is a key supporter of the ASEAN
Single Window project, which aims to develop an integrated cross-border process
for customs clearance to increase trade efficiency and competitiveness across
the region.
€
The United States Department of Commerce supports
ASEAN's efforts to harmonize standards and regulations in priority sectors,
including areas such as conformity assessment, regulatory practices, green
buildings, medical devices, improved food safety practices, green chemistry and
health supplements.
€€
As part of a longstanding cooperative program, in May,
the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) convened intellectual
property rights enforcement officials, attorneys, artists, and experts to
provide training for 70 ASEAN regulators.
As an Asian Development Bank (ADB) member, the United
States supported creation of the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund of $485 million to
support infrastructure projects aimed at creating an integrated ASEAN
community. Funded projects will create opportunities for U.S. businesses to
participate in ASEAN infrastructure projects in the energy, transportations,
and information and communications technology sectors.
Increasing People-to-People Ties: Recognizing the
importance of increasing engagement at the individual and society levels, we
have expanded our people-to-people activities with ASEAN, including through the
following programs:
We will welcome the first group of students to Hawaii
in September under the five year, $25 million Brunei-U.S. Partnership on
English Language Education for ASEAN. This initiative, which is being
implemented by the East-West Center and the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, will
help to unify ASEAN, improve English language capacity, and advance educational
and teaching opportunities in the region.
€
A pilot initiative under the State Department’s Bureau
of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ (ECA) Fulbright program will be launched
to support the exchange of U.S. and ASEAN scholars. As part of our flagship
education program, the initiative will enable Fulbright scholars from ASEAN to
travel to the U.S. to focus on ASEAN-related priorities while Fulbright
specialists from the United States will support research and thought leadership
at ASEAN-related institutions.
In April 2012, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion
and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children visited Washington, D.C. and
New York at the invitation of Secretary Clinton.
€
The United States collaborated with the ASEAN
University Network to develop the first-ever ASEAN Studies Course for
undergraduates.
At the ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia this month, we launched a manual for teachers to incorporate
lessons on ASEAN into primary and secondary school classrooms.
€
In 2013, we will welcome ten non-governmental and
community activists, development experts, and new media practitioners from
ASEAN to the United States under a new ASEAN International Visitor Leadership
Program on New Media program.
In 2012, we will launch a Southeast Asia Youth
Leadership Program Alumni Summit to engage up to 180 teenage alumni and
educators from all ten ASEAN member countries to promote cross-border community
projects on issues of common interest.
The State Department’s Bureau of International
Information Programs (IIP) launched the ASEAN Connectivity Speaker Program to
send U.S. speakers to ASEAN member countries to discuss topics included in the
Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity in 2013.
An Education USA college fair in 2013 will bring
American university representatives to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand, and Cambodia. Other ASEAN countries will be included in future fairs.
€
The United States provides important assistance to the
ASEAN Human Rights Resource Center to conduct research and training activities.
€
Strengthening Collaboration on Political/Security
Issues, Disaster Relief, and Science: Other examples of U.S. support for ASEAN include:
The United States through USAID cooperates with ASEAN
to end human trafficking in Southeast Asia through the U.S.-supported MTV EXIT
campaign. Utilizing MTV EXIT’s live concerts in Manila, Phnom Penh, and Hanoi,
broadcasts across the region, and youth-related capacity building programs, we
have raised regional awareness among hundreds of thousands of young ASEAN
citizens about the issue of human trafficking.
€
We are supporting the ASEAN Center for Humanitarian
Assistance and Disaster Relief (AHA Center), which coordinates disaster
response activities across the ASEAN region, including through installation of
a regional disaster monitoring system.
The United States supports a pilot project on the use
of carbon emissions monitoring tools to help ASEAN cities develop baselines for
emissions levels, and plan strategies to measure and monitor results of their
efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.
Officials from the United States met with the ASEAN
Committee on Science and Technology (COST) in Naypyitaw in May to strengthen
cooperation in the health sciences and delivery sector.
Through the Maximizing Agricultural Revenue through
Knowledge, Enterprise Development, and Trade (MARKET) program, the United
States is working closely with ASEAN to improve regional food security by
increasing market access for food producers and increasing price transparency
for ASEAN consumers.€€
PRN: 2012/T69-20
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