Welcome Remarks
by
His Excellency
Dr. SOK AN, Deputy Prime Minister,
Minister in
charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers
on the Occasion of the ASEAN Civil
Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum (ACSC/APF)
“We the Peoples
of ASEAN Joining Hands Together for an ASEAN Community”
Phnom Penh, 28
March 2012
œœœ
- Excellencies-ASEAN Ambassadors to the Kingdom of
Cambodia;
- Excellencies-Members of the Royal Government of
Cambodia;
- Distinguished Delegates,
- Representatives of Civil Society Organizations,
- The ASEAN family,
I wish to express my sincere thanks
to the Organizing Committee, in particular Cambodian Institute for Cooperation
and Peace (CICP), for the invitation extended to me to attend this session. I also
wish to express my appreciation to the Organizing Committee of the ASEAN Civil
Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum 2012 for their hard work in organizing
this forum in order to provide a platform for interaction between the peoples
and the leaders of their governments.
I am pleased to have this
opportunity to extend, on behalf of Samdech Akka
Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of
Cambodia, congratulations to all delegates
representing CSOs from ASEAN member states and a warm welcome to Cambodia. Your
gathering today here in Phnom Penh demonstrates a strong commitment to join
hands to address the common challenges facing the peoples of ASEAN. I am
confident that your voices will be heard louder and louder in the cause of
building a harmonious and prosperous Southeast Asian region and beyond.
I would like to highlight the fact that
true partnerships of mutual cooperation among governments, CSOs, and academic
communities are not only a concept, but are actual and fruitful practices in
our region. This is an ongoing and positive trend, as I believe that we all
have a stake in maintaining and strengthening peace and security, stability,
and development.
Distinguished Delegates and Participants
As we are now living in a globalized
world, we face increasingly complex issues and uncertainties, which require both
state and non-state actors to work hand in hand. Regional and global
cooperation provides an indispensible foundation to cope with those issues.
In our region, we are
witnessing myriad and unprecedented challenges arising from both human and
natural factors. Poverty and the widening development gap, unemployment,
climate change and natural disasters remain some of the key challenges to be
addressed in working to achieve a society with food, energy and water resources
security, as well as human rights (especially for women and migrant workers),
decent work, social justice, environmental protection and good governance.
I must say that we, the
peoples of ASEAN, are fortunate to see the dynamic and positive development of our
regional institution, which is playing an important role in shaping regional
cooperation and institutionalization in East Asia at large. We hope that such a
role for ASEAN will continue with new initiatives, ideas, and smart diplomacy.
How to engage in situations involving many countries and create a dynamic
equilibrium is not an easy task. ASEAN needs to have one voice to express our
common interests.
ASEAN has made at least three
notable achievements: peace and stability, economic connectivity moving towards
integration, and the creation of an active diplomatic community. But, these
achievements could be hindered by conflicts of sovereignty, ultra-nationalism, the
development gap between the new and old members of ASEAN, and limited regional preventive
diplomacy and conflict resolution.
While we are proud of
what we have achieved, we need to work much harder to address the remaining and
future challenges ahead. I believe that the peoples of ASEAN, including their
governments and CSOs, can contribute their pragmatic ideas to cope with those
challenges. We need to improve and nurture the culture of partnership and engagement
between CSOs, non-governmental organizations, youth associations and governments,
as we move further towards a truly
people-centred ASEAN and together successfully build our community.
We also have to work harder to
inspire the peoples of ASEAN, to increase their awareness of their shared
heritage and common destiny and to encourage their participation in this exhilarating
venture of regional cooperation.
Distinguished Delegates and Participants
On this occasion, I would like to recall
a number of the ASEAN Charter’s purposes, which may be relevant to what you
will be discussing over these three days. Those purposes are:
·
to ensure that the peoples of ASEAN
live in peace with the world at large in a just, democratic and harmonious
environment;
·
to strengthen democracy, enhance
good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights
and fundamental freedoms;
·
to promote sustainable development
so as to ensure the protection of the region’s environment, the sustainability
of its natural resources, the preservation of its cultural heritage and the
high quality of life of its peoples;
·
to develop human resources through
closer cooperation in education and life-long learning, and in science and
technology, for the empowerment of the peoples of ASEAN and for the
strengthening of the ASEAN Community;
·
to strengthen cooperation in
building a safe, secure and drug-free environment for the peoples of ASEAN;
·
to promote people-oriented ASEAN in
which all sectors of society are encouraged to participate in, and benefit
from, the process of ASEAN integration and community building; and
·
to promote an ASEAN identity through
the fostering of greater awareness of the diverse culture and heritage of the
region.
I know that those of you meeting
here today in the Forum represent a wide range of CSOs from within Cambodia and
from the other ASEAN Member States. The Cambodian Organizing Committee received
the mandate to work on this year’s Forum from last year’s host, Indonesia, to
ensure a transparent and democratic process, especially the smooth and
successful holding of the ASEAN Peoples’ Forum 2012.
The Cambodian representatives were
elected at the preparatory meeting held at the University of Cambodia, Phnom
Penh, on 15 March 2012, with 2,779 participants from non-governmental
organizations, CSOs and youth organizations. The main purpose of the preparatory
meeting was to establish the legitimacy and representativeness of the process
in the election of one youth representative and one CSO representative to
interface with the ASEAN leaders and to elect four commissions to organize the
ASEAN Peoples’ Forum.
Let me congratulate you on your
election, and my congratulations also go to all representatives from other
ASEAN Member States.
To conclude, I wish you all gathered
here in the name of the peoples of ASEAN, great success in bringing and exchanging
ideas in this forum. I am confident that your active and constructive participation
will help ASEAN to grow ever stronger in the years ahead as we move towards
“One Community, One Destiny”.
As I leave you to carry out these
important deliberations, I wish you all good health, success and happiness in
your family.
I now declare the opening of this
Forum.
Thank you!