December 15, 2008
No. 243
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today congratulated the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter.
"The ASEAN Charter heralds a new chapter in the already close partnership between ASEAN and Canada. Its entry into force marks an important step toward establishing an ASEAN community comprising the ASEAN Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community," said Minister Cannon. "We congratulate ASEAN members and the organization's Secretariat on this significant achievement and look forward to deepening our ties with the region."
Canada has been a dialogue partner of ASEAN for more than 30 years and maintains an active programming agenda with ASEAN members through the Jakarta-based Secretariat. Canada has significant interests in Southeast Asia-one of the world's fastest-growing economic regions. Two-way trade exceeded $13 billion in 2007, and in the same year Canadian direct investment in ASEAN countries totalled nearly $7.7 billion.
The Charter will give ASEAN a legal identity, create an ASEAN human rights body, enact a dispute settlement mechanism, and formalize a system of personal representatives. An example of recent ASEAN-Canada cooperation took place in May 2008 when, through CIDA's SEARCH program (SouthEast Asia Regional Cooperation in Human development), Canada funded an ASEAN forum to better define the terms of reference for the implementation of the ASEAN Charter's human rights mechanism.
The ASEAN member countries are Brunei Darussalam, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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For further information, media representatives may contact:
Natalie Sarafian
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
613-995-1851
Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874
www.international.gc.ca/index.aspx
