Doubling GDP, deepening integration pledged at ASEAN summits

ASEAN agreed to focus on doubling its GDP and reducing poverty as part of an ambitious post-2015 plan that will see the bloc moving forward with greater integration and engagement, said the leader of Brunei, host of the 23rd ASEAN Summit and related summits on Thursday.

Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who chaired a series of summits this week, said he was optimistic about the group in tackling global growth challenges and security issues.

Addressing a press conference at the end of the summits, he outlined an agreement by the member states to double ASEAN's current gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.23 trillion U.S. dollar to 4.4 trillion U.S. dollars after 2015.

The agreement also included cutting ASEAN's poverty rate from 18.6 percent to 9.3 percent.

Hassanal stressed the need for greater engagement as the group moves towards a tough deadline of becoming a European Union-like community by the end of 2015.

Though over 79 percent of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint has been completed, the most challenging components remain ahead of the 10 member states.

"We believe it is important to have deep ties with all our partners. ASEAN also had positive discussions with a number of its dialogue partners. The first ASEAN-US Summit saw pledges of greater engagement, we agreed, among other things, to deepen economic engagement, people-to-people and economic exchanges," the sultan told reporters.

"ASEAN leaders were also pleased with the development of our relations with Japan, South Korea and India respectively, in particular the significant increase in trade between ASEAN and these partners."

ASEAN trade with South Korea has increased to 130 billion U.S. dollars while a target of 100 billion U.S. dollars was set with India.

Meanwhile, largest transactions remain with China, which is ASEAN's largest trading partner, with plans in place of hitting 500 billion U.S. dollars in trade in 2015.

Hassanal also called for greater support among member states for the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which kicked off in May.

Once materialized, the RCEP will become the largest free-trade bloc in the world, comprising all 10 ASEAN nations and the six other countries with which the group has free-trade agreements ( FTAs) with -- China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

"Assisting youth development, tourism and people-to-people ties are also important as this group moves forward. Food and energy security, disaster management and connectivity are a few other areas that we can improve on," the sultan added, proposing a working plan be set up to develop avenues for future cooperation.

Realizing Millennium Development Goals on the 2015 deadline given by the United Nations and ploughing ahead with sustainable development targets including climate change were also discussed, according to the leader.

At the end of the ASEAN Summit, leaders adopted the Bandar Seri Begawan Declaration that outlines their aims for post-2015 development, he said.