ASEAN, Japan adopt Joint Vision Statement on friendship and partnership

JOINT VISION STATEMENT ON ASEAN-JAPAN FRIENDSHIP AND COOPERATION

Trusted Partners

WE, the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan, gather here in Tokyo on 17 December 2023 on the occasion of the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation;

ACKNOWLEDGING the significant progress and outstanding achievements of our wide-ranging cooperation and close partnership in the last half-century since 1973, and the growing role of ASEAN in the international community;

REAFFIRMING the shared principles, values and norms enshrined in the ASEAN Charter and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC);

RECALLING the 2013 Vision Statement on ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, the 2020 Joint Statement of the 23rd ASEAN-Japan Summit on Cooperation on ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and the 2023 Joint Statement on the Establishment of the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership;

RECOGNISING that both the AOIP and Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision share relevant fundamental principles in promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the region; and

AFFIRMING that all persons are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of humanity.

WE DO HEREBY DECLARE THAT:

Our vision is for a world where the shared principles and values, as espoused including in the United Nations Charter (the UN Charter) and upheld by the AOIP, among others, are ensured, and where all countries can pursue peace and prosperity and uphold the principles of democracy, the rule of law and good governance, and respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms;

We reaffirm our commitment to uphold international law, including the UN Charter and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS);

We will advance cooperation on mainstreaming the AOIP that reinforces the key principles of openness, transparency and inclusivity within the evolving ASEAN-centred regional architecture;

Building on mutual trust, ASEAN and Japan will strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that is meaningful, substantive, and mutually beneficial under the following three pillars, embracing ASEAN unity and centrality.

Heart-to-Heart Partners across Generations

We are committed to further fostering "heart-to-heart" relationship of mutual trust, mutual understanding, and mutual respect as the foundation for the ASEAN-Japan partnership through:

i. Strengthening youth and people-to-people exchanges across sectors, including culture and arts, sports, and tourism;

ii. Enhancing educational cooperation through scholarship programs, language learning, as well as student and faculty exchanges;

iii. Enhancing intellectual, academic and research exchanges and collaboration in areas such as Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) and global issues;

iv. Encouraging career development exchanges, networking among business sectors and cross-border movement of skilled labour; and

v. Promoting mutual understanding of diverse cultures and traditions.

Partners for Co-creation of Economy and Society of the Future

We strive to co-create a prosperous and sustainable economy and society, which is diverse, inclusive, resilient, free and fair, jointly address various common economic and social challenges, and ensure human security through:

i. Supporting ASEAN's integration and community-building efforts towards the realisation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and ASEAN's aspirations for the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, as well as continuing cooperation to narrow the development gap in the region;

ii. Enhancing connectivity, including air connectivity between ASEAN and Japan, such as through quality infrastructure investment, institutional and human resource development and exchanges;

iii. Strengthening smart city cooperation;

iv. Supporting innovation including for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and start-ups;

v. Enhancing partnership on public health, healthcare and welfare;

vi. Strengthening and securing supply chain resilience and reliability, and enhancing industrial competitiveness such as next generation auto industry;

vii. Facilitating trade and investment including through flagship projects as well as cooperation with regional/multilateral frameworks and institutions;

viii. Enhancing financial stability and promoting transparent and fair development finance adhering to international rules and standards;

ix. Promoting sustainable energy security and accelerating energy transitionsthrough various and practical pathways, while noting Japan's initiatives such as the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) platform to advance energy cooperation; x. Addressing climate change, protecting the environment, and conserving biodiversity;

xi. Addressing disasters, including strengthening cooperation on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, disaster risk reduction, and disaster management;

xii. Promoting digitalisation and ICT solutions as well as cooperation on Artificial Intelligence (AI);

xiii. Building resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems to ensure food security, including through sustainable agricultural water management;

xiv. Enhancing cooperation to promote decent and appropriate working environment for foreign workers;

xv. Enhancing cooperation in protecting and empowering women, persons with disabilities, people in rural areas and other vulnerable groups; and

xvi. Utilising effective and strategic development cooperation including Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Partners for Peace and Stability

We affirm the shared view to promote a rules-based Indo-Pacific region that is free and open, embraces key principles such as ASEAN's unity and centrality, inclusiveness, transparency, complements ASEAN community building process, guided by the shared fundamental principles as enshrined in the UN Charter and the TAC, including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful means, and renunciation of the threat or use of force, and thereby will focus on:

i. Strengthening security cooperation, including maritime security cooperation;

ii. Strengthening cooperation on disarmament and non-proliferation, and working towards a world without nuclear weapons;

iii. Enhancing dialogue and cooperation to promote human rights, democracy and good governance, as well as the rule of law including through legal technical assistance;

iv. Advancing gender equality including the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda;

v. Strengthening cooperation for peace, conflict management, and conflict resolution; and

vi. Enhancing cooperation in areas such as cybersecurity, countering terrorism, transnational crime and disinformation.

Adopted in Tokyo, with its Implementation Plan on the Seventeenth Day of December of the Year Two Thousand Twenty-Three.