ASEAN countries' leaders shake hands at the opening ceremony of ASEAN summits in Vientiane, capital of Laos, on Sept. 6, 2016. (Photo: Xinhua/Wang Shen)
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed in Vientiane on Tuesday to step up their efforts to push forward the integration process in the region.[Special coverage]
The agreement came as they adopted the third Work Plan of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI Work Plan III) at the 28th ASEAN Summit which was opened here earlier in the day.
The five-year work plan, an integral part of the ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together, aims at narrowing the development gap, enhancing the region's competitiveness and supporting the implementation of the community blueprints which ASEAN leaders adopted in November last year.
Built upon the first IAI Work Plan launched in 2000, the IAI Work Plan III will continues to provide technical assistance to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam so as to enhance their capacity in implementing their regional commitments.
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, or the CLMV countries, joined ASEAN between 1995 and 1999.
The IAI Work Plan III focuses on five strategic areas, namely food and agriculture, trade facilitation, micro, small and medium enterprises, education as well as health and well-being.
Since the launch of the first IAI Work Plan in 2000, more than 600 projects and activities worth over 102 million U.S. dollars have been implemented so far, the regional group said.
The development gap has been narrowed thanks to income and trade growth in the CLMV countries in the past decade. But they still have the lowest incomes among ASEAN member states.
ASEAN affirmed its continued efforts to assist CLMV countries to meet ASEAN-wide targets and commitments so as to realize the goals of the ASEAN Community.
ASEAN is a regional bloc comprising 10 Southeast Asian nations. It aims to promote inter-governmental cooperation and facilitate economic integration among its members.
It was originally established in August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The group has now expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
ASEAN has a combined population of approximately 625 million people, accounting for 8.8 percent of the world's total. In 2015, the bloc's combined nominal GDP had grown to more than 2.8 trillion U.S. dollars.
