Final
Report: 39th SEAMEO Council Conference
The Empire Hotel and Country Club, Jerudong
Negara Brunei Darussalam
1-4 March 2004
The Empire Hotel and Country Club, Jerudong
Negara Brunei Darussalam
1-4 March 2004
Proceedings
Contents |
| Proceedings |
| Appendices |
Statement
by Dr Wilfrido V Villacorta ASEAN Deputy Secretary General, 2 March 2004, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalarn |
Mr Chairman Excellencies, the Education Ministers of the SEAMEO and Associate Member States, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, |
On
behalf of the Secretary-General of ASEAN, l would tike to express
our appreciation for SEAMEO's invitation to the ASEAN Secretariat
and for the hospitality extended to our delegation. I also wish
to extend my most sincere congratulations to you, Mr. Chairman,
on your election as President of the 39th SEAMEO Council. |
ASEAN
has had the fortune of having been invited to annual SEAMEO Council
conferences. We are aware of the outstanding accomplishments of
SEAMEO throughout these forty years to promote regional cooperation
in education, science and culture towards a better quality of life.
Building upon this vision, SEAMEO has been responsive to changing
needs in this era of globalization. |
Having
been with academia, I share your passion for enhancing the capability
of our regions most valuable resource our people I was a Senior
Specialist of the SEAMEO INNOTECH Center in 1976 1978 and participated
in some of the pioneering efforts of that Center in the field of
educational innovation and planning. I am thankful for that experience.
My training in INNOTECH prepared me for my work as university administrator
and later, as delegate to the 1986 Constitutional Commission where
I sponsored the constitutional provisions on education, science
and culture. |
May
I take this opportunity to inform the SEAMEO Ministers of Education
what we in ASEAN are doing in the fields of education, science and
culture, in the pursuit of regional integration. |
Recognizing
that people are at the core of development, the 2nd ASEAN Informal
Summit in 1997 envisioned the ASEAN Community in 2020 as a "concert
of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability
and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development
and in a community of caring societies". |
Since
then, the work of ASEAN bodies has given priority to the realization
of this Vision. Strategic programs developed for ASEAN collaboration
in labor, health, rural development and poverty, education, science
and technology, food and agriculture, and culture and information
are aimed at helping the peoples of ASEAN realize their full potential
and contribute to regional progress. |
The
Vision 2020 aims were reinforced at the 9th ASEAN Summit held in
October 2003 where Leaders "pledged to achieve an ASEAN Community
by the year 2020 which would rest on the three pillars of ASEAN
Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio Cultural
Community." The essence of these three pillars is embodied
in the Declaration of ASEAN Concord (or Bali Concord II) adopted
by the 9th ASEAN Summit. |
The
ASEAN Economic Community seeks to create a stable, prosperous and
highly competitive ASEAN economic region where there is a free flow
of goods, services and investment, and a freer flow of capital,
equitable economic development and reduced poverty and socio economic
disparities in year 2020. The ASEAN Security Community is envisaged
to bring ASEAN's political and security cooperation to a higher
plane to ensure that Member Countries live at peace with one another
and with the world at large in a just, democratic and harmonious
environment. |
The
ASEAN Socio Cultural Community is ASEAN's blueprint to enhance human
security and to promote human development in line with the UN's
Millennium Development Goals. This third pillar envisions a Southeast
Asia bound together in partnership as a community of caring and
sharing societies. It aims at fostering cooperation in social development
for the purpose of raising the standards of living of the disadvantaged
and the rural population, and ensuring that the work force shall
benefit from economic integration Moreover, it seeks the active
involvement of all sectors of society, in particular women, youth
and local communities. |
In
fortifying these three pillars of the ASEAN community, there is
recognition of the importance of human resource development After
all, it is people who effect economic development; it is they who
provide stability and security to society, and it is for our people
that human development efforts are dedicated. |
Human
resources development is a key strategy for employment generation,
alleviating poverty, and achieving economic growth with equity.
In the Bali Concord II, ASEAN is mandated to ensure that its work
force shall benefit from economic integration by investing more
resources for basic and higher education; training, science and
technology development, job creation and social protection. |
Because
our organizations comprise the same Member Countries, we are both
working for the same goal of a better quality of life throughout
Southeast Asia. ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong and SEAMEO's
Immediate Past President Dr Edilberto de Jesus spoke of the convergence
between the activities and goals of SEAMEO and ASEAN during Dr De
Jesus's visit to the ASEAN Secretariat last January. They agreed
that there is need for closer cooperation between ASEAN and SEAMEO
and that it is time that creative modes for such cooperation be
explored. |
The
ASEAN Secretariat expresses its readiness to work with the SEAMEO
Secretariat in facilitating regional coordination for the ultimate
benefit of the people of our region. |
| Thank you, Mr Chairman. |
