The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has made progress in moving towards the realization of the ASEAN Community by the year 2020, based on the three pillars namely the ASEAN Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

This was announced here in a joint communiqu issued Tuesday at the end of the two-day ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) which was participated by the foreign ministers from ASEAN's ten member- nations namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

"We agreed that it was important for ASEAN to strengthen our integration efforts for all three pillars of the ASEAN Community," the communiqu said.

The foreign ministers exchanged views during the meeting on how to bring forward the realization of the ASEAN Community from 2020 to 2015 and the possible ways of achieving this objective, the communiqu said.

"We reiterated the importance of maintaining ASEAN centrality in the context of ASEAN related regional architectures to support the attainment of the objectives of the establishment of the ASEAN Community," it said.

On drafting of the ASEAN Charter, the ASEAN foreign ministers commended the Eminent Persons Group for their proposals and ideas for the future direction of ASEAN and practical recommendations on the nature of the ASEAN Charter, as mandated by the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Charter.

The ministers agreed to establish the High Level Task Force to carry out the drafting of the ASEAN Charter after the 12th ASEAN Summit.

"We underlined the need to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of ASEAN for improved coordination in its endeavors to achieve the goals and objectives of the ASEAN Community," the communiqu said.

The Philippines was elected as the In-coming Chair of the 40th ASEAN Standing Committee and Singapore as the Vice-Chair.

The 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting/Post Ministerial Conferences/ 14th ASEAN Regional Forum will be held on July 30 to August 2, 2007 in the Philippines, according to the communiqu.

Source: Xinhua