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1st LD Writethru: ASEAN leaders convene to discuss community realization, development beyond 2015

Xinhua, November 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered here on Saturday to discuss the establishment of the landmark ASEAN Community by Dec. 31 this year and map out a plan for its further development to 2025.

"We are all here in Kuala Lumpur at a historic moment for the 10-nation association. Tomorrow, we will formally declare the establishment of the ASEAN Community on Dec. 31, 2015," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in his opening remarks.

This marks "the culmination of a decades-long effort to integrate, to cohere and to forge ahead together," he said.

Under the theme "Our People, Our Community, Our Vision," the summit, the 27th of its kind, is expected to unveil the 2015 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Community, signalling the formal establishment of the community by Dec. 31, 2015.

The envisaged ASEAN Community will cover some 600 million people with a combined GDP of 2 trillion U.S. dollars.

The 2015 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together will also be endorsed at the end of the summit and related meetings.

ASEAN has maintained the high ambitions it set in the three community blueprints -- economic, political-security and socio-cultural with " impressive growth," Najib said.

The summit was convened at a time when ASEAN nations have faced economic downturn, currency devaluation, threats of terrorism and human-trafficking.

Created in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

As one of the five original founding members of ASEAN, Malaysia took over the rotating chairmanship with an aim to accelerate economic integration, strengthening the institutional framework and make ASEAN more inclusive.

"ASEAN is increasingly seen as not only as integral to the global economic and security architecture, but also as a region of tremendous opportunity," Najib said

The bloc has advanced and risen together the ASEAN way over its evolution with emphasis on community and consensus-building, non-violence and moderation.

In charting its future course to 2025, ASEAN aspired to deepen the integration process to realize a rules-based, people-oriented, people-centered ASEAN Community, he added.

The two-day summit will also see the presence of leaders from China, South Korea, Japan, India, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Russia for East Asia gathering. Enditem