Delegates at the 17th ASEAN-Japan Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting (Photo: asean.org)

The 17th ASEAN-Japan Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting has been held, reaffirming both sides’ commitment to further advance their partnership to mark the 50th Year of Friendship and Cooperation.

Permanent Representative of Thailand to ASEAN Urawadee Sriphiromya and Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN Kiya Masahiko co-chaired the  June 6 meeting.

The meeting noted the substantive progress made in ASEAN-Japan cooperation over the past year through the effective implementation of the Revised Implementation Plan of the 2013 Vision Statement on ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation. All action lines in the plan have been addressed with multiple programmes and projects carried out in a wide range of areas.

Both sides agreed to continue strengthening cooperation to facilitate the regional recovery in the areas of trade and investment, digital economy, cyber security, tourism, sustainable development, connectivity, smart cities, disaster management, environment and climate change, food and energy security, public health, sport and people-to-people exchanges, among others.

The meeting welcomed various commemorative activities held this year to mark the 50th anniversary of the relationship. It looked forward to the convening of the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit in December in Tokyo and its deliverables which will set directions to advance future cooperation.
 
The two sides exchanged views on developments in ASEAN and Japan and regional issues. ASEAN welcomed Japan’s support for ASEAN’s efforts in mainstreaming the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). In this regard, the meeting welcomed the establishment of the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) 3.0 with an initial contribution of 100 million USD from Japan to support cooperation projects and activities relating to the implementation of the key areas of AOIP./.

VNA