ASEAN DIRECTORS GENERAL REVIEW PROGRESS ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 131640 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DISTRIBUTE TO BANGKOK RDMA - JEWILSON DISTRIBUTE TO USTR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV PHUM PREL XB XC XD XE XU XV ZO ASEAN AID SUBJECT: ASEAN DIRECTORS GENERAL REVIEW PROGRESS ON ENHANCED PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNITED STATES ¶1. (U) Summary. Directors General (DGs) from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met with EAP/RSP director on December 15 in Manila to review progress on implementing the November ASEAN ) U.S. Leaders' Meeting Joint Statement and to initiate planning for the next ASEAN ) U.S. five-year plan of action (POA). All participants noted the number of important outcomes from the Leaders' Meeting, such as the U.S. Mission to ASEAN, the ASEAN ) U.S. eminent persons group (EPG),future cabinet-level interactions, the planned visit of ASEAN trade ministers and a business delegation to the United States, and the next Leaders' Meeting in 2010, among other items. For the next POA, to cover the period of July 2011 to 2016, the DGs agreed to draft a more broadly strategic document in contrast to the present POA, which has over 100 discrete areas of cooperation. The December meeting provided a useful opportunity to review the expanding U.S. engagement with ASEAN, highlight progress that already has been made in the past month on implementing the Leaders' Meeting Joint Statement, and to start the planning for what will be a busy year in the U.S. - ASEAN relationship, with the establishment of a new Mission and planning for the next Leaders' Meeting. End Summary. -------------- Joint Statement -------------- ¶2. (U) The Philippines, the present coordinator for the U.S. dialogue partner relationship with ASEAN, hosted in Manila on December 15 a meeting between ASEAN DGs and EAP/RSP director. The meeting initially reviewed the implementation of the November Leaders' Meeting Joint Statement. EAP/RSP director noted that progress has been made in the past month; for instance, the United States has provided a climate change specialist to the ASEAN Secretariat, planning for environmental projects has started, and a youth exchange program supported by Northern Illinois University began in November. In addition, a U.S. Foreign Service officer has been assigned to Jakarta beginning in January to establish a STATE 00131640 002 OF 004 ¶3. (U) Areas requiring further implementation included the proposed 2010 Leaders' Meeting, establishing the EPG, cabinet-level meetings, and a trade delegation to the United States. The ASEAN DGs requested information on the timing of President Obama's participation in the next Leaders' Meeting. EAP/RSP director responded that dates have not been set yet. EAP/RSP director outlined a proposed terms of reference (TOR) for the EPG, which would include three U.S. representatives and one representative from each ASEAN country. The proposed TOR for the EPG would also have former cabinet-level officials and corporate leaders of the top U.S.-ASEAN companies in the region. The EPG will review progress in the U.S.-ASEAN 32-year relationship and identify areas for future cooperation ) serving a dual role of raising ASEAN awareness among policy makers and pushing a more aggressive agenda for U.S.-ASEAN cooperation. The EPG TOR and the participant list would be finalized by February for the second ASEAN Working Group Meeting. The ASEAN DGs also asked for clarification of plans for interactions between Energy Secretary Chu and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Kirk and their counterparts. Again, the timing for those meetings has yet to be established; similarly, the travel of trade ministers and ASEAN business representatives will have to be coordinated with the appropriate offices and the U.S. - ASEAN Business Council (USABC). ¶4. (U) EAP/RSP director asked for clarification from the ASEAN DGs on how the U.S. private sector can support planning for pandemic preparedness; whether ASEAN would be receptive to U.S. companies assisting in stockpiling vaccines for swine and other flu strains. Similarly in disaster assistance, the United States intended to follow-up on implementing a regional multi-hazard early warning system and to support training on civil-military cooperation in disaster management and humanitarian assistance. ¶5. (SBU) EAP/RSP director also asked for information on plans for the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) mechanism, which would provide an opportunity for the ASEAN Defense Ministers to meet their counterparts from the Dialogue Partner country, such as the United States, China, and others. According to the ASEAN DGs, details were still under discussion, but that they anticipated seeking U.S. STATE 00131640 003 OF 004 SUBJECT: ASEAN DIRECTORS GENERAL REVIEW PROGRESS ON ENHANCED PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNITED STAT participation in an ADMM Plus. EAP/RSP director recommended that initially U.S. officials could be included in planning discussions for the ADMM Plus at a working- level. The ASEAN officials mentioned that there would be working-level meetings on this issue in the beginning of 2010, prior to a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) for the ADMM in May and the Ministers Meeting during the ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial (ARF) meetings in July. In separate conversations, the Vietnam DG commented that Vietnam, as the ASEAN chair country for 2010, was inclined to include eight of the 10 ASEAN dialogue partner countries (United States, China, Russia, India, Japan, Republic of Korea (ROK),Australia, New Zealand). The Vietnamese selection criteria included the dialogue partners that had signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and had a record of security cooperation in the region. This would exclude dialogue partners, such as the European Union and Canada. Separately, the Singapore DG expressed concerns about having too inclusive a list of participants in the ADMM Plus, making it too cumbersome to achieve agreement on issues. He also questioned the merits of including Russia and India, which he considered to be less constructive partners. -------------- Plan of Action -------------- ¶6. (U) Following discussion of the Joint Statement, the meeting participants reviewed the status of the present five-year POA, due to end in July 2011. The participants noted the progress made in many areas within the three ASEAN communities: Political and Security, Economic Cooperation, and Social and Development Cooperation. Within the political and security area, the engagement has expanded with more high-level interactions, plans for a new U.S. Mission to ASEAN, and greater efforts in nontraditional security issues such as disaster management. In the economic area, the United States has provided support to market integration, implementation, and conformance with standards and intellectual property. For social and development support, the United States has helped to establish a climate change specialist position and a range of environmental projects in the region. ¶7. (U) Given the POA has over a hundred discrete points for cooperation, some areas had only limited or no activity, such STATE 00131640 004 OF 004 SUBJECT: ASEAN DIRECTORS GENERAL REVIEW PROGRESS ON ENHANCED PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNITED STAT as in support for development of minerals and agriculture. EAP/RSP Director recommended that the next POA should be more strategic, focus on areas where there has been successful cooperation, and should eliminate areas that saw little activity the past four years. In addition, to ensure full commitment from all sides, for each area of cooperation there should be an identified ASEAN lead country and a participating U.S. agency counterpart. The participants agreed that since there were a number of pressing issues to plan in the first half of the next year, such as the next Leaders, Meeting and follow-up to the Joint Statement, planning for the 2011-2016 POA could be delegated to the more working-level officials in the Committee of Permanent Representatives. Moreover, any recommendations could be reviewed in the latter part of 2010, with ultimate signing by the ministers in July 2011. ¶8. (SBU) Comment: The December ASEAN DGs meeting provided an opportunity to assess the status of the Leaders, Meeting Joint Statement and the present POA. The discussions highlighted the significant expansion of U.S. engagement with ASEAN and the number of accomplishments in that cooperation. The ASEAN DGs recognized that the United States was seeking to elevate its interaction with ASEAN and that this was consistent with the United States, broader goal of enhancing its multilateral engagement in the Asia-Pacific region generally. The dialogue also highlighted that significant additional planning would be required to implement the Joint Statement, such as to establish the EPG and to schedule another Leaders, Meeting in 2010 as promised by President Obama. CLINTON