ASEAN Eminent Persons Group
Encyclopedia
The ASEAN Eminent Persons Group (EPG) is a group of prominent citizens from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
member countries, tasked to create the charter of the ASEAN community.
The group was formed on December 12, 2005, through the 11th ASEAN Summit Declaration in Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia. ASEAN is a socio-economic community in South East Asia founded
The mandate of the group is to examine and review the ASEAN structure, areas of cooperation, principles and goals contained in agreements, treaties and declarations over the last 38 years; and to provide the ASEAN leaders with policy guidelines on the drafting of the ASEAN charter.
The group recommends key elements of an ASEAN Charter, including:
The integration of an ASEAN community is to create a European Union
-like community in the Asia-Pacific region.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated ASEAN rarely ), is a geo-political and economic organization of ten countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has...
member countries, tasked to create the charter of the ASEAN community.
The group was formed on December 12, 2005, through the 11th ASEAN Summit Declaration in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia. ASEAN is a socio-economic community in South East Asia founded
The mandate of the group is to examine and review the ASEAN structure, areas of cooperation, principles and goals contained in agreements, treaties and declarations over the last 38 years; and to provide the ASEAN leaders with policy guidelines on the drafting of the ASEAN charter.
- Political and security (the ASEAN Security Community)
- Economic and finance (the ASEAN Economic Community)
- Functional (the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community)
- External relations, bilaterally and inter-regionally
- Narrowing the development gap among ASEAN Member Countries, in the context of the ASEAN Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), and the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
- ASEAN structure, including decision-making process, administrative modalities, sources of funds, working methods, cross-sectoral coordination, conduct of meetings, documentation of meetings, roles of the Secretary-General and the ASEAN Secretariat
The group recommends key elements of an ASEAN Charter, including:
- Vision of ASEAN beyond 2020
- Nature, principles and objectives of ASEAN
- Membership of ASEAN
- Areas for enhanced ASEAN cooperation and integration
- Narrowing the development gap among ASEAN Member Countries
- Organs of ASEAN and their functions and working methods
- ASEAN administrative structure (mechanisms, roles of the Secretary-General and the ASEAN Secretariat)
- Legal personality of ASEAN
- Conflict resolution mechanisms
- External relations
The integration of an ASEAN community is to create a European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
-like community in the Asia-Pacific region.
Members of the EPG
- Brunei Darussalam
- H.E. Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
- H.E. Dr. Aun Porn Moniroth, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supreme National Economic Council of Cambodia
- IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
- H.,E. Mr. Ali AlatasAli AlatasAli Alatas was an Indonesian diplomat of Hadhrami descent, who served as the country's foreign minister from 1988 to 1999. He was Indonesia's longest serving foreign minister.-Education and early career:...
, former Minister for Foreign Affairs
- H.,E. Mr. Ali Alatas
- Lao PDR
- H.E. Mr. Khamphan Simmalavong, former Deputy Minister of Commerce
- Malaysia
- H.E. Tan Sri Musa HitamMusa HitamTun Musa bin Hitam , is a Malaysian politician and a former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, serving under Mahathir bin Mohamad. He was born in Johor Bahru, Johor in 1934...
, former Deputy Prime MinisterDeputy Prime Minister of MalaysiaDeputy Prime Minister of Malaysia is the second highest political office in Malaysia. There has been ten deputy prime ministers since the office was created in 1957. Although there has always been a Deputy Prime Minister since independence, there is nothing preventing a Prime Minister from not...
) - Chairman of the EPG
- H.E. Tan Sri Musa Hitam
- MyanmarMyanmarBurma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
- H.E. Dr. Than Nyun, Chairman of the Civil Service Selection and Training Board)
- PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
- H.E. Mr. Fidel V. RamosFidel V. RamosFidel "Eddie" Valdez Ramos , popularly known as FVR, was the 12th President of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. During his six years in office, Ramos was widely credited and admired by many for revitalizing and renewing international confidence in the Philippine economy.Prior to his election as...
, former President of the PhilippinesPresident of the PhilippinesThe President of the Philippines is the head of state and head of government of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines...
, former Secretary of National Defense, Chairman of the Boa'o Forum of Asia
- H.E. Mr. Fidel V. Ramos
- SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
- H.E. Prof. S. Jayakumar, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Law
- ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
- H.E. M.R. Kasemsamosorn Kasemsri, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
- VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
- H.E. Mr. Nguyen Manh Cam, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs