ASEAN SECRETARY-GENERAL RECEIVES PUBLICATION  PREPARED BY UNCTAD ON ASEAN’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

13 September 2017, Wednesday, Geneva, Switzerland – H.E. Mr. Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), received from Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Tuesday, 12 September, the publication entitled “ASEAN at 50: Achievements and Challenges in Regional Integration.” The UNCTAD Secretariat prepared the document in recognition of the organization’s golden anniversary. Present at the handover were all ten Permanent Representatives of the ASEAN in Geneva.

The ASEAN-Secretary-General said that UNCTAD has a long history of supporting ASEAN Member States and the publication is a manifestation of the organization’s continued support to ASEAN as a whole.

Ambassador Evan P. Garcia, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, added that, “The ASEAN countries are grateful to UNCTAD for preparing this comprehensive publication. The Philippines has been fortunate to hold the chairmanship of ASEAN during its 50th anniversary. The publication is one of the ways the Geneva Chapter of ASEAN is commemorating this important milestone in the history of our organization. The other is the participation of the ASEAN Secretary-General as a panelist at the High Level Dialogue of the Trade and Development Board, which is UNCTAD’s most important meeting of the year.”

The publication details ASEAN’s political origins, the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community, its work on integrating trade and services as well as investment and finance, infrastructure initiatives, global value chains, and technological upgrading. It paints an accurate picture of ASEAN’s efforts at integration over the past 50 years.

The UNCTAD Secretariat undertook this project and prepared the publication to support the Philippine chairmanship of ASEAN during its 50th anniversary year. END