The 10th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit closed in Vientiane Tuesday.

This summit put the emphasis on narrowing the development gap among the grouping's member countries and expanding cooperation with its Dialogue Partners and other countries.

The "Vientiane Action of Program" (VAP) adopted on Monday is the most important document in the more than 30 ones adopted or signed during the meetings.

The Program says the member countries agree to pursue the comprehensive integration of ASEAN toward the realization of an open, dynamic and resilient ASEAN Community by 2020 as envisioned in the Declaration of ASEAN Concord II and its annexes.

It says ASEAN shall address, by various ways and means, the development issues and special needs of the less developed ASEAN member countries and sub-regional areas of the grouping, including the implementation of the concept of "Prosper They Neighbor" by instituting programs to narrow the development gap, reducing socio-economic disparities and eradicating poverty within ASEAN.

The development gap is quite big as per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of the four late comers of the grouping averages only US$300 while that of the six older members amounts toUS$1,600.

To narrow the gap, relevant countries signed the Vientiane Declaration on Enhancing Economic Cooperation and Integration among Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, the Socio-Economic Development Master Plan of the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle, and the Framework Agreement for the Integration of the Priority Sectors.

The meetings also agrees to establish an ASEAN Development Fund to support the implementation of the VAP and future action programs.

The Vientiane Action Program says that indeed, efforts to narrow the development gap would be self-reinforcing. They would help remove the biggest constraint to the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which in turn would help narrow that gap.

It says the grouping shall adopt greater outward-looking external relation strategies with its Dialogue Partners and friends in building a peaceful, secure and prosperous ASEAN, strengthening its economic linkages and deepening its socio-cultural cooperation with East Asia and beyond.

During the meetings, ASEAN signed separately with the Republic of Korea and India instruments on their accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. The grouping not only held summits with China, Japan, ROK, and India separately, but also had a commemorative summit with Australia and New Zealand. All this indicates ASEAN's determination and confidence in expanding external cooperation.

ASEAN said during the summit that the economic growth of the ASEAN region in past decades has been largely driven by FDI flows and exports. While exports have stabilized and are again beginning to expand, ASEAN has experienced a sustained decline in FDI flows since the 1997-1998 economic and monetary crisis. Internal measures, aimed at creating a single ASEAN market and production base, may not be sufficient to attract the volume of investment required to sustain economic growth.

It said the strategy for ASEAN external economic cooperation will involve strengthening linkages and promoting the coherence of agreements with major trading partners such as China, Japan, ROK, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union and emerging economies such as India.

ASEAN's ties with China have been strengthened markedly through the meetings. They signed the ASEAN-China Plan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration of the Heads of State/Government of ASEAN and China on Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments of the Member Countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Government of the People's Republic of China on Transport Cooperation, the Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and China, and the Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism between ASEAN and China.

These documents show that the process of building an ASEAN-China Free Trade Area has started in an all-round way.

The summit also discussed the possibility of establishing an East Asia Summit (EAS) mechanism and an East Asia Free Trade Area. Japan offered to host a foreign ministers meeting next year to discuss the concept and modalities of an EAS, while a decision was made that Malaysia will host such a summit.

ASEAN was established in 1967, groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, with Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia as the later comers of the grouping, joining it after 1995 one after another.

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2004)