MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Smith
Today Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and I will sign the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program (AADCP) Phase II Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
This is Australia's largest single program of assistance to ASEAN and is valued at $57 million over seven years.
The first phase of the program, from 2002-08, increased economic integration across the region, and increased economic and trade links with Australia and New Zealand. It also helped ASEAN tackle priority development challenges in science, technology and the environment by strengthening regional cooperation.
The AADCPII Phase II MoU will promote ASEAN's further economic integration and growth through economic policy support to member governments and the ASEAN Secretariat.
It reinforces Australia's commitment to help the less developed ASEAN members to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.
By supporting strong economic policies with ASEAN, the program complements the ASEAN Australia New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), which will further promote trade between Australia and ASEAN.
Two way trade investment between Australia and ASEAN was valued at over $88 billion in 2008. ASEAN is a larger trading partner for Australia than any single country, accounting for 17 per cent of Australia's goods and services trade in 2007-08.
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, with a combined population of 550 million.