31 December 2015 marks another signifi-

cant milestone in ASEAN’s history as it is the

day the ASEAN Community is formally estab-

lished. The ASEAN Community was launched

by the ASEAN Leaders during the 27th ASEAN

Summit and Related Summits on 22 November

2015 in Kuala Lumpur.

As Chairman of ASEAN, Malaysia, with the

strong support and cooperation from the other

ASEAN Member States, had successfully ful-

filled its two main deliverables, namely to en-

sure the completion of the remaining action lines

of the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community

(2009-2015); and to develop the ASEAN Com-

munity’s Post-2015 Vision – ASEAN 2025:

Forging Ahead Together – that charts the way

forward for ASEAN in the political-security,

economic and socio-

cultural community pillars

over the next 10 years. It

has, therefore, been an

honour for Malaysia to be

the Chairman of ASEAN,

at a time when ASEAN

embarks on a new era.

Malaysia recognizes

that the coming into being

of the ASEAN Communi-

ty does not mean that it has arrived towards the

end of the community building process. In fact,

this is just the beginning. Greater awareness of

the ASEAN Community and involvement in the

community building process by its peoples are

vital in making the ASEAN Community a suc-

cess.

Malaysia warmly welcomes the establishment of

the ASEAN Community and reiterates its unwa-

vering support to further deepen the community

building and regional integration process and to

implement the commitments made under the

ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together.

FORMAL ESTABLISHMENT OF ASEAN COMMUNITY

ASEAN News Volume 30 Jul –Dec 2015 ASEAN Committee in Ottawa (ACO)

Inside this issue:

Formal Establishment of ASEAN Community

1

Brunei-Canada: Looking ahead

2

President Indonesia and PM Canada Bilateral Meeting

3

Malaysia: Chairman of ASEAN 2015

4

Myanmar taps experience of ASEAN in Im-plementing Competition Laws

5

ASEAN Business Opportunities

6

The 2nd

Destination

Thailand

7

Vietnam

contributions to

ASEAN

8

Quick Facts on ASEAN– Cana-da relations

9

Page 2 ASEAN News

Brunei High Commission (BHC), Ottawa, December

2015 - Creating better awareness about trade and study

opportunities in Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of

Unexpected Treasures, is one of the High Commission’s

agenda for 2016. It plans to do more outreach activities to

Canadians, especially those based in Vancouver, Calgary

and Toronto, where Canadians of Brunei origin are

primarily based. Following its success in Ottawa, BHC will

be organizing another Brunei Cultural Evening at the

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where BHC will

be reaching out to consulates, businesses and community

groups in Toronto on 24 February 2016.

Canada is no stranger to Brunei. Even before Brunei gained

its full independence in 1984, Brunei had already some trade

with Canada. It was a modest engineering project valued at

$30,000 in 1982, carried by a Canadian company called

Lavalin Corporation. Today, two Canadian companies,

Montreal-based CAE and Vancouver-based Viva

Pharmaceutical, have set branches in Brunei Darussalam.

In terms of people connection, immigrants recorded from

Brunei in 1980 and 1981 were 332 and 302 respectively.

With a population of approximately 190, 000 in 1980, this

outflow of people is considered a sizeable proportion.

Reflecting the long Brunei presence in Canada, a Brunei

cultural association has been in existence since 1976 in

Vancouver and Calgary.

Today’s bilateral relations between Brunei and Canada

remain warm and friendly. Strengthened over the years

through forums like ASEAN-Canada Dialogue, Asia Pacific

Economic Cooperation (APEC), Commonwealth and the

Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). With its excellent tertiary

institutions, Canada is also an education destination for

many Bruneians. To deepen youth ties, in collaboration with

the Education Ministry of Brunei, fully funded scholarships

were extended to Canadians in 2015, and for the first time

ever, BHC hopes to welcome Canadian students in the 2016

academic year at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam and

Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University.

With excellent physical infrastructure, educated working

force and stable political situation, Brunei has shaped itself

to be an FDI destination at par with many of its ASEAN

counterparts. Business regulations are regularly reviewed to

ensure they serve today’s needs. In fact, Canadian

businesses can expect international labour, environment and

intellectual property standards, as Brunei prepares itself to

ratify the 21st century TPP agreement. Looking ahead, BHC

looks forward to deepen relations with Canada, with focus in

trade and education for the year 2016.

BRUNEI

STUDY INVEST & VISIT

Kingdom of the U n e x p e c t e d Treasures

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM AND CANADA RELATIONS – LOOKING AHEAD

Letter from Brunei to Canada dated December 1963

ASEAN News Page 3

President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko

Widodo met Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau

at the sidelines of the G20 Meeting in Antalya, Turkey,

15 November 2015. President Widodo is the second

head of state that PM Justin Trudeau sat with bilaterally

since Trudeau won the Canada’s Federal Election and

was sworn in on 4 November 2015. Foreign Minister

Retno Marsudi, Finance Minister Bambang

Brodjonegoro and State Secretary Minister Pratikno

accompanied President Jokowi at the meeting.

Both leaders discussed the potential to increase trade

and investment cooperation between the two countries.

Indonesia is Canada’s largest export market in the

Association of South-East Nations (ASEAN) region

with trading value of $2.65 and Indonesia is an

important destination for Canadian foreign direct

investment (amounting to $4.32 billion in 2014).

Canadian exports nearly doubled from 2010 to 2014.

President Widodo urges Canada to open more market

share for Indonesian products, including rubber, paper,

furniture, electronics, shoes, coffee and tea.

President Widodo also invites Canada’s business sector

to elevate its investment in Indonesia, especially in

human resources, agriculture, sustainable technology

and infrastructure. “The Indonesian government had

issued various economic policy packages aimed at

improving conditions to be more conducive for

investors in Indone-

sia” stated President

Widodo. Canadian

Businesses can take

benefit from the

opportunities offered

from these packages.

After the bilateral

meeting, PM Justin

Trudeau announced

Canada’s commit-

ment at the amount

of $14.25 million for

strengthening infra-

structure develop-

ment in Indonesia, in

order to promote

sustainable economic

growth in Indonesia.

Canada is partnering with the World Bank, through the

Accelerating Sustainable Public-Private Investments for

Infrastructure Renewal (ASPIRE) project, to assist

Indonesia in preparing legal and regulatory groundwork

required for critical public-private partnership (P3)

infrastructure projects. This includes the establishment

and operationalization of a P3 Centre in Indonesia.

Both countries reiterated their support to the COP-21

UNFCC in Paris to produce a new international

agreement on climate change. With regard to

Indonesian forests fires, PM Trudeau proposes to

develop a bilateral cooperation in peat land and forest

fire management. Indonesia welcome the proposal and

conveyed support for PM Justin Trudeau’s commitment

to reduce Canada’s emissions. Indonesia has committed

to reduce emissions by 29% in 2030 or promised to

reduce the emission by 41% with international

assistance.

The 60th Com-memorative Asian-African Conference

that Widodo Maritime Strategy in the declaration of

“maritime axis” and the optimization of Indonesian

maritime policy in Indian Ocean during Indonesian

Chairmanship in Indian Ocean Rim Association (2015-

2017).

PRESIDENT JOKO WIDODO AND PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU’S

FIRST BILATERAL MEETING

ASEAN News Page 4

Malaysia’s 2015 chairmanship of the Association of South-

east Asian Nations (ASEAN) comes at a critical time for re-gional trade diplomacy. ASEAN has set the end of 2015 as its deadline for the establishment of the ASEAN Community and the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, a free trade agreement (FTA) between ASEAN and six dialogue partners including Austral-ia, China, Japan, India, New Zealand, and South Korea. Ne-gotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), an FTA between twelve Asia-Pacific economies, including Malaysia and Canada, has also been concluded. Malaysia is keen to create a greater sense of belonging among the people of ASEAN through the creation of a “people-centered ASEAN.” The theme for its ASEAN chairmanship is “Our People, Our Community, Our Vision.” In pursuit of this theme, Malaysia has identified eight priorities to be implemented:

Formally establish the ASEAN Community to present an ASEAN that is outward-looking, peaceful, stable, pros-perous, and bound together in partnership for dynamic development;

Develop ASEAN’s post-2015 vision as guidance for the ASEAN Community to further prosper and grow with a stronger sense of belonging as one community;

Steer ASEAN closer to its people as part of the overarch-ing theme of Malaysia’s chairmanship in creating a truly people-centered ASEAN;

Strengthen the development of small and medium enter-prises (SME) in the region;

Expand intra-ASEAN trade and investment, particularly cross-border investments and trade and bring ASEAN to par with other regional arrangements like the European Union and North American Free Trade Agreement;

Strengthen ASEAN’s institutions by implementing the recommendations of the High-Level Task Force on Strengthening the ASEAN Secretariat and Reviewing the ASEAN Organs;

Promote regional peace and security through moderation as a core value in addressing conflict and finding solu-tions to issues concerning regional peace and security; and

Enhance ASEAN’s role as a global player by developing a common platform on global issues of mutual interest and promoting enhanced ties with external parties.

The key objective of the ASEAN Community is to bring to-gether all ten ASEAN member states into a single market. This is also the expectation of the stakeholders, especially investors and those in the business community. Other priorities that Malaysia worked on include strengthen-ing the development of SMEs in the region, expanding intra-ASEAN trade and investment, and enhancing ASEAN’s role as a global player. As chair, Malaysia advanced the following initiatives in 2015: an ASEAN trade facilitation agreement, the ASEAN Business Travel Card, the 10th Package of Ser-vices Liberalization under the ASEAN Framework Agree-ment on Services, the self-certification scheme under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, the Post-2015 Strategic Action Plan for SME Development (2016–25), and the ASEAN Single Window. Economic measures taken beyond 2015 will be premised on sustaining and promoting ASEAN’s economic growth and competitiveness by further removing barriers to trade and investment and by adopting an even more ambitious econom-ic integration program. These efforts aim to address structural and regulatory barriers in the region through domestic regula-tory and legal reforms; institute greater trade-facilitative measure to further strengthen and broaden ASEAN as an in-tegrated production and supply chain; promote new and im-prove existing infrastructure facilities to create a highly inte-grated and connected region to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing global economic environment; enhance fi-nancial services liberalization, including the integration of capital markets; promote the adoption of new technologies to ensure sustainable development; and improve human re-source development, including by enhancing mobility among skilled workers in the region to attract talent to meet the re-quirements of industries. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is another major effort to integrate the Asia-Pacific econo-mies and complements the implementation of the AEC. All RCEP-participating countries were represented at the recent 7th RCEP Trade Negotiating Committee and related meetings in Bangkok. The countries involved are diverse, representing different levels of development and different sizes. Neverthe-less, as the driver of the process, ASEAN is working tireless-ly to ensure that the RCEP will be realized.

Malaysia’s post-2015 work will require full cooperation and commitment from all member states and is not the sole re-sponsibility of the chair. According to a well-known proverb, “if you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to go far, walk together.” As a grouping that has existed for 47 years, ASEAN represents the latter.

MALAYSIA: CHAIRMAN OF ASEAN 2015

Page 5 ASEAN News

JAKARTA, 21 October 2015 – To promote

"peer learning" among ASEAN Member States, offi-

cials from the Ministry of Commerce of Myanmar and

other related institutions held a study visit on Compe-

tition Policy and Law (CPL) to Indonesia and the

ASEAN Secretariat.

The delegation met with the Commission for the Su-

pervision of Business Competition (KPPU), the Indo-

nesian Ministry of Trade, as well as regional experts to

discuss competiton law provisions and procedures.

Referring to the experiences of Indonesia and Malay-

sia, considerations for a suitable institutional set-up

and the general importance of CPL in a market econo-

my were also addressed. Myanmar officials learned

from the long experience of Indonesia which was the

first country in ASEAN to pass a competition law in

1999. The KPPU has since been active and instrumen-

tal in fostering the dialogue on CPL within ASEAN.

During their meeting with the Competition, Consumer

Protection, Intellectual Property Rights and SMEs

Division (CCPID) of the ASEAN Secretariat, the dele-

gation was briefed on the ASEAN Competition Action

Plan 2016-2025. They further took note of the pro-

gress of CPL laws in the region and cooperation activ-

ities on CPL.

In line with national aspirations and the regional com-

mitment under the current ASEAN Economic Com-

munity (AEC) Blueprint, Myanmar enacted a competi-

tion law in February 2015. At present, the country is in

the process of drafting regulations and building capac-

ities for the implementation of the new law.

The study visit was jointly supported by the German

Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the Deutsche Ge-

sellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

GmbH through the project "Competition Policy and

Law in ASEAN" (CPL II) which is funded by the Fed-

eral Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Develop-

ment (BMZ) of Germany.

Source on Wednesday, 21 October 2015. Posted in

2015, ASEAN Secretariat News

MYANMAR TAPS EXPERIENCE OF ASEAN MEMBER STATES IN IM-PLEMENTING COMPETITION LAWS

The Trade Commissioner Service of the Global Affairs Cana-da organized an ASEAN Business Opportunities Seminar on 30 November-4 December to present market and export opportuni-ties for Canadian companies in ASEAN in the areas of renewable energy and smart grid infrastructure, transportation (rail and air-port), water and wastewater solutions, and engineering and tech-nical consulting services. Facilitated primarily by the Trade Commissioners Office of the Canadian Embassy in the Philippines, invitations were extended to various PPP agencies in ASEAN countries, including the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines. The Road-show stopped in Vancouver (November 30), Montreal (December 2) and Toronto (December 4). The Philippine delegation also made a side trip to Ottawa on December 3. Ten (10) airport projects were offered to prospective investors in ASEAN: two (2) in Myanmar; one (1) in Indonesia; six (6) in the Philippines; and one (1) in Thailand. Other projects rec-ommended for bidding include Malaysia's CAD$ 14.5- billion 330-km KL-SG High-Speed Railway; Singapore's CAD$ 10.5-million Floating Solar Panels; Thailand's CAD$ 18.5-billion, 800 megawatts of Solar Farm Licenses; and the Philippines' CAD$ 5-million Non-Revenue Water Solution (NRW) and Sewerage Water Treatment Project (SWTP). Emphasis was put on building relationships with local contacts; navigating through the Asian business culture; hiring local law-yers, accountants, agents, and focusing on technology solutions. Investors should remain alert and not "wait for the press release” announcing the project, because by then, it may be too late to participate. In Vancouver, a seminar at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Business School provided an opportunity for Canadian businessmen to look at public infrastructure projects in ASEAN.

In Montreal, the Institut Pour Le Partenariat Public-Prive was impressed at the rollout of 11 projects in the Philippines at a short amount of time while other entities expressed interest in various energy and tele-medical services. In Toronto, the Roadshow gathered around 50 potential partners including engineering and financial consultants as well as representatives from banks, green energy, engineering and high technology, electric vehicles (car conversions), hy-draulics, architectural firms, water asset management, road pavement, and customized roadway data and fare collection. During a briefing at Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa, Philippine Ambassador Petronila Garcia noted that ASEAN is a fast-emerging region working towards an ASEAN Economic Commu-nity (AEC) to create a single market and production base by the end of 2015. Thus, increased integration and expansion of infra-structure and transportation linkages is a main component of ASEAN connectivity initiatives. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank are significantly strengthening support for infrastructure in the region, with country investors and the ADB providing initial equity of $485 million to finance public projects in addition to ADB’s eq-uity investment in a $625 million private equity fund focused exclusively on Philippine infrastructure projects. The Roadshow also highlighted the significant contribution of the Philippines to the establishment of other Southeast Asian nations' PPP program in terms of good practices.

Countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Bhutan, Ton-ga, and Spain have visited the Philippines' PPP Center to solicit knowledge and information on how the country implemented its own PPP Program.

Page 6 ASEAN News

Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service spotlights ASEAN business opportunities under Public-Private Partnership

Philippine Ambassador Petronila P. Garcia and Minister Eric Gerardo E. Tamayo (far right) accompany the Philippine delegation as they conducted briefings for Global Affairs Canada officials overseeing Canadian engagement with the Philippines

Page 7 ASEAN News

The Royal Thai Embassy in Ottawa proudly brought back the 2nd Destination Thailand, the largest Thai festival in Cana-da, to Yonge-Dundas Square, a prime tourist attraction in Can-ada’s top metropolitan centre. It was held on Saturday, 12 Sep-tember 2015 and proved to be another year of great success as the event continued to attract both locals and tourists from far and wide who came to enjoy a full day of Thai cultural show-case. At the official opening of the festival, Ambassador Vijavat Isarabhakdi gave warm welcoming remarks to the crowd which included distin-guished guests such as His Excellency Pg Kamal Bashah Pg Ah-mad, High Commission-er for Bru-nei Darussalam, Mr. Eric Gerardo Tamayo, Minister and Consul of the Republic of the Philippines, Mrs. Rosalita Prospero, Con-sul General of the Philippine Consu-late General in Toronto, Mrs. Meity Suhariah Ichwanu, Consul for Economic Affairs, Consulate General of the Republic of Indo-nesia in Toronto, Mr. George Heller, Honourary Consul-General of Thailand in Toronto, Dr. Ken NG, Chairman of the Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham (FCCM) as well as representatives of Team Thailand Canada. The Thai Dance Troupe of Ottawa and the Toronto Thai Dance Troupe joined hands to perform a series of elaborate and exquisite Thai classical dances to celebrate the 5th cycle Birthday Anniversary of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Thailand’s beloved Princess. Besides the captivating dances, the stage was packed with amazing shows and activities all day long such as an exciting demonstration of Muay Thai martial arts by Master Suchart of Siam No.1 and his students, traditional Thai massage in daily life by Saipin Therapeutic, fruit carving by the Thai Society of Ontario (TSO), learn to wear Jong-Kra-Ben by University of Toronto Thai Student Association (UTTSA), and pulsating live rock music by Nick Moore and the Prenup Band. The happy flow of the day-long event was made possible by our gifted emcee, Mr. Daniel Fraser, a Canadian who made

Thailand his second home. He brought smiles and laughter to the audiences throughout the day with fun games such as Q&A quiz about Thailand. He and his sister, Ms. Sue Kuipers, also helped promote Thai tourism at their Smiling Albino booth, along with Silk Holidays, Bangkok Airways, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand. A major attraction of the festi-val was probably none other than Thai food. The participating food vendors were all certified with the Thai Select logo which is a guarantee of authentic Thai cuisine and heartwarm-ing services. Bangkok Garden, Golden Thai and Linda Mod-ern Thai returned for the 2nd year while Pai and Thai Noodle

were new additions to this year’s event. On that day, there was also a presentation of Thai Select award given to the new Thai Select restaurants. This is good news for people who love Thai food but don’t know which restaurant serves authen-tic Thai dishes. Among many other varieties of Thai beverages available at the event, visitors also lined up to have a cup of hot and freshly brewed Doi Chaang Coffee, which is a trans-Pacific Partner-ship between Thai and Canadi-

an entrepreneurs. There was also chilling cool Singha Beer served in the beer garden located right at the Square. The fes-tival was filled with many fun things to do for people of all ages, such as a Paradise Combo jumping castle, an umbrella painting demo, a photo booth provided by the Thai Trade Cen-tre in Toronto, fresh fruit tasting presented by the Office of Agricultural Affairs (D.C.), and food sampling at TI-foods and CPF Canada booths. The event was also attended by local or-ganizations such as Toronto Police Services and Asian Com-munity Aids Services (ACAS) who provided useful infor-mation to interested visitors. The festival was fun, family friendly and free for everyone to enjoy. It couldn’t have been completed without the collective efforts from all the participat-

ing vendors, performers, and volunteers as well as the invaluable support of the City of Toronto and its people. Thanks to them, this sec-ond chapter of Destination Thailand became an event imbued with numerous unforgettable moments.

We are also excited to announce that this highly anticipated Thai cultural extravaganza will return for the third year in a row. It is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 10 September 2016. We hope to see you at the 3rd Destination Thailand!

THE SUN CONTINUES TO SHINE AT THE 2ND DESTINATION THAILAND

Page 8 ASEAN News

The year 2015 marks an important milestone for ASEAN. It is the year the Association turns into a Community. But for Vietnam, the year also carries another important miles stone: its 20th anniversary membership of ASEAN. In the 20 years since, Vietnam has made great efforts in joining other members to build and develop ASEAN into the common home of South East Asia, and contributed greatly to its development policies, cooperation directions and major decisions. In 1998, just three years after joining the bloc, Vietnam successfully hosted the 6th ASEAN Summit Meeting when the Asian financial crisis was battling the region with strongly affects on the regional grouping. The outcome of the meeting, especially the endorsement of the Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA) to implement the Vision 2020, helped ASEAN regained confidence and strengthened its solidarity, cooperation and international reputation amidst the adverse impacts of the crisis. Holding aloft the motto of “Solidarity is Strength”, Vietnam actively pushed for the admission of Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia into ASEAN, and fulfilled ASEAN’s dream since its inception in 1967 to one day become an association comprising all 10 Southeast Asian nations, thus ushering in a new historical chapter of solidarity, friendship and cooperation within the region. At the formation state of the ASEAN Community at the turn of the 21 Century, when Singapore and Indonesia respectively initiated the ideas of the ASEAN Politics - Security Community and the ASEAN Economic Community, Vietnam was one of the leading voices insisted on adding the third pillar of Socio-Cultural Community that brought about the ASEAN Community’s current shape and balance. Vietnam also made active contributions to working out relevant documents for the building of the ASEAN Community such as the Vientiane Action Programme 2004, the ASEAN Charter 2008 and the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009-2015. In 2010, Vietnam successfully undertook the rotating ASEAN Chairmanship, which probably was Vietnam’s most remarkable contribution to ASEAN, during which period ASEAN strengthened its centrality while expanded the regional security architecture. The decision to expand the East Asia Summit to include the US and Russia were reached that year. The ASEAN Defense Minister Meeting +, a critical mechanism of growing importance in the regional security architecture, was also held for the first time in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi in 2010. At the 12th Shangri-La Dialogue organised in Singapore in May 2013, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called upon nations to prioritise building a “strategic trust” to foster long-lasting relations. Vietnam’s message was welcomed by the world, and contributed to efforts to consolidate peace and create a favourable environment for cooperation, development and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Vietnam has consistently advocated a stance of ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the South China Sea (the “East Sea” in Vietnamese). Hence, it has urged related parties to abide by the ASEAN – China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) towards the formation of a Code of Conduct (COC) and to settle territorial disputes through peaceful means in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). With regard to economic and trade, joining ASEAN has made Vietnam an integral part of a community of 600 million people, ranking seventh in the world in terms of combined gross domestic product (GDP). Vietnam has strictly enforced its commitment under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) blueprint, with a completion rate to date of 85-95%, ranking Vietnam among the top performer in ASEAN. Vietnam has also reduced import tariffs levied on more than 10,000 products to 0-5% in line with the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). In the first six months of 2015, Vietnam’s export earnings from other ASEAN markets reached US$9.12 billion while its import value was estimated at US$11.91 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.3%. The import-export structure has changed positively with improvements seen in both quality and value, allowing Vietnam and other ASEAN members to join the world’s biggest exporters of rice, rubber, coffee, cashew nuts and garments. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been another bright spot in economic cooperation within the bloc. ASEAN has acted as a source of FDI as well as a bridge connecting multinational corporations to invest in Vietnam. By the end of June 2015, ASEAN member nations had 2,632 valid FDI projects in 55 out of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and cities with a combined investment capital of US$54.6 billion. Socio-cultural cooperation between Vietnam and ASEAN members were also robust, driven by the motto “unity in diversity”. Cultural cooperation has been considered a useful bridge to enhance mutual understanding between nations and promote friendship among ASEAN peoples and between ASEAN and other regions. Being an ASEAN member, Vietnam had more favourable conditions to introduce its culture imbued with national identities to other Southeast Asian countries and acquire cultural essences from the region and the world. Vietnam successfully hosted a wide range of major ASEAN cultural events and actively took part in cultural activities in other member countries through the ASEAN Committee for Cultural and Information Cooperation. Vietnam has been happy with its ASEAN membership for the past 20 years. Joining ASEAN was probably one of the most important foreign policy decisions Vietnam made since the implementation of its “Doi Moi” (Renovation) policies. Moving ahead, Vietnam resolves to continue its active participation and contribution to the ASEAN Community in an “active, proactive and responsible” manner, striving to make ASEAN and indispensible force for peace, stability and prosperity for South East Asia and its peoples.

2015 MARKS 20 YEARS OF VIETNAM CONTRIBUTIONS TO ASEAN

July-Dec 2015 ASEAN Committee in Ottawa (ACO) Newsletter Volume 30

Current Chair (Apr il - December 2015) High Commission of Brunei Darussalam 395 Laurier Avenue East Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1N 6R4 Phone: 613-234-5656 Fax: 613-234-6261 Email: Ottawa.canada@mfa.gov.bn

Quick Facts on ASEAN-Canada Relations

Feb 1977 Held first formal meeting between ASEAN & Canada July 1994 Canada is one of the founding participants of the ASEAN Regional Forum July 2006 ASEAN & Canada signed a Joint Declaration for Cooperation to

Combat International Terrorism July 2010 Canada acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in

Southeast Asia Jan 2012 ASEAN & Canada celebrated 35 years of friendship and cooperation Aug 2012 Held the 1

st ASEAN Economic Ministers – Canada Consultation

Canada- ASEAN Business Council was established April 2013 Held the first ASEAN-Canada Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) June 2014 Held the ASEAN Economic Ministers Roadshow to Canada Aug 2015 Adopted the Plan of Action to Implement ASEAN-Canada Enhanced Partnership (2016-2020) Jan 2016 Ottawa appointed the first Canadian Ambassador to ASEAN Source: http://www.asean.org/asean/external-relations/canada