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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”


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! 

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