Roundup: Southeast Asian leaders end summit, highlighting building of regional community

Leaders from 10 Southeast Asian countries concluded a summit here Monday, reaffirming to make their utmost for the establishment of the ASEAN Community by the end of this year.

"I believe we have had some very useful and positive discussions and have made good headway in working together to make a people-centered ASEAN a reality," Najib said at the closing session of the ASEAN Summit at the Langkawi International Convention Center in northern Peninsular Malaysia.

"This is a very significant milestone in the history of our organization, and we must ensure that every effort is expended in pursuit of that goal," he said.

The ASEAN Community involves a plan to create a common economic, political-security and socio-cultural region.

In the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on a People-Oriented, People- Centered ASEAN, adopted at the end of the summit, the leaders agreed to make continued efforts to establish the ASEAN Community "where all people, stakeholders and sectors of society can contribute to and enjoy the benefits from a more integrated and connected community encompassing enhanced cooperation in the political-security, economic and socio-cultural pillars for sustainable, equitable and inclusive development."

To counter terrorism, violent extremism and radicalism, which pose a challenge to ASEAN, the leaders acknowledged "moderation, as a means to promote tolerance and mutual understanding, includes the importance of engaging in dialogues on political, economic and socio-cultural issues."

In the Langkawi Declaration on the Global Movement of Moderates, the leaders emphasized "terrorism, radicalism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations should not be tolerated or condoned."

Education should be promoted as an effective means of instilling respect for life, for diversity and the values of moderation, tolerance, non-violence and mutual understanding towards preventing the spread of violent extremism and addressing its root causes, the leaders said.

The Southeast Asian leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to forging a more resilient future by reducing existing disaster and climate related risks, preventing the generation of new risks and adapting to a changing climate through the implementation of economic, social, cultural, physical, and environmental measures which address exposure and vulnerability, and thus strengthen resilience.

Commenting on the just-close ASEAN Summit, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said: "This is a very significant milestone in the history of our organization, and we must ensure that every effort is expended in pursuit of that goal."

"We will act to make the most of our region's tremendous potential," Najib said at the closing session of the summit.

During the summit and related meetings, ASEAN foreign ministers sent a message on the earthquake that struck Nepal and its surrounding neighbors on Saturday, conveying their deepest condolences to the governments and peoples of the countries affected by the deadly earthquake which had left at least 4,000 people dead. Endi