ASEAN-CANADA DIALOGUE
A.Introduction
1.The first formal meeting between ASEAN and Canada was held in February 1977. At the meeting, the Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs informed the Chair of the ASEAN Standing Committee of Canada’s proposal to extend a programme of development assistance to ASEAN. This commitment was later formalised in 1981 with the signing of the ASEAN-Canada Economic Cooperation Agreement (ACECA), which came into force on 1 June 1982.
2.The ACECA provided for industrial and commercial cooperation in addition to technical cooperation. It also established the ASEAN-Canada Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) to promote and review the various cooperation activities envisaged between ASEAN and Canada. On July 1993, a revised ACECA was signed, incorporating new areas of cooperation, which included science and technology and environment policy networking, institutional-building, organisational and management development programmes and efforts to stimulate private sector activities, market development and bi-lateral business cooperation, among others. It entered into force on 1 April 1994.
3.The year 1997 marks the 20th anniversary of ASEAN-Canada dialogue relations. During the 11th ASEAN-Canada JCC held in Montreal, Canada in May 1997, it was agreed that a working group be formed to review the ASEAN-Canada development cooperation and to take stock of the past twenty years to further enhance the ASEAN-Canada Dialogue. Initially the focus of the relations was on development cooperation activities. Today the scope of cooperation has been expanded to cover a wide range of cooperation activities.
4.ASEAN and Canada marked the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-Canada dialogue relations in 2007 with a number of commemorative activities.
B.Political-Security Cooperation
5.ASEAN and Canada recognised the need to enhance cooperation in areas of mutual interest for the benefits of the peoples of ASEAN and Canada and to meet the interrelated challenges facing ASEAN and Canada in the coming decades. As such, the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC + 1) with Canada, held on 22 July 2009 in Phuket, Thailand adopted the Joint Declaration on the ASEAN-Canada Enhanced Partnership. The Joint Declaration provides for comprehensive, action-oriented and forward-looking guidance to ASEAN-Canada dialogue relations in the future.
6.ASEAN and Canada have held regular dialogues at the level of Senior Officials to exchange views on political and security cooperation issues.
7.In combating international terrorism, ASEAN and Canada signed a Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism in Kuala Lumpur in July 2006. The declaration calls on ASEAN and Canada to, among others, designate contact points to coordinate their respective law enforcement and security agencies, authorities dealing with countering terrorist financing and other relevant agencies for the purpose of implementing the declaration.
8.ASEAN encourages Canada to consider accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), which is an important code of conduct governing inter-state relations and in maintaining regional peace, stability and development.
C.Economic Cooperation
9.Annual two-way trade between ASEAN and Canada was worth C$ 11 billion in 2006. Canada’s foreign investment in the ASEAN region stood at more than C$ 8 billion. In 2005, ASEAN imported from Canada US$ 2.8 billion, an increase from US$ 1.55 billion in 1993. In 2005, ASEAN exported to Canada US$ 3.1 billion, an increase from US$ 1.95 billion in 1993.
10.The Senior Economic Officials (SEOM) – Consultations with Canada have met twice since May 2005 (the First SEOM – Consultation with Canada was held on 3-4 May 2005 in Toronto, Canada, and the Second SEOM – Consultation with Canada was held on 15-16 September 2006 in Bali, Indonesia).
11.ASEAN and Canada are working towards the conclusion of the ASEAN-Canada Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to enhance trade and investment relations.
D. Development Cooperation
12.ASEAN-Canada cooperation is undertaken under the ASEAN-Canada Joint Cooperation Work Plan (JCWP) 2007-2010, which was adopted at the PMC +1 Session with Canada on 1 August 2007. The JCWP 2007-2010 is built on the momentum of its predecessor, the first phase of the JCWP 2005-2007. The JCWP aims at promoting and enhancing ASEAN-Canada dialogue relations by assisting ASEAN in its community building efforts for an ASEAN Community by 2015.
13.The annual ASEAN-Canada Informal Coordinating Mechanism (ICM) Meetings review and facilitate the progress of the implementation of the JCWP.
14.A number of ASEAN-Canada cooperation projects have been implemented with funding support from Canada, including an “ASEAN Workshop on Preventing Bio-Terrorism”, which was held on 12-13 July 2007 in Jakarta and an “ASEAN Workshop on Forging Cooperation among Anti-Terror Units”, which was held on 23-24 January 2008 in Jakarta.
15.ASEAN and Canada have adopted the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the ASEAN-Canada Technical Initiatives for the Roadmap for the ASEAN Community (2009-2015). The TOR is a mechanism to assist ASEAN through the ASEAN Secretariat with the provision of short-term experts from Canada in planning and implementing activities under the Vientiane Action Programme for ASEAN community building efforts.