- Foreign Secretary to attend the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministerial meeting in Indonesia.
- He will set out the UK’s support for a strong and united
ASEAN as central to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific.
- Visit comes as part of a series of multilateral events this
month, including the NATO conference and UN Security council.
The Foreign Secretary will this week visit Jakarta (13-14 July),
meeting ASEAN partners to advance cooperation on the shared
priorities of security, stability and prosperity.
During the visit, the Foreign Secretary will announce up to £25m
in funding to support ASEAN nations’ economic growth and reduce
poverty, bringing UK expertise in trade, regulation and financial
services to the region over the next five years. This will boost
long-term UK trade and investment links in a region which
includes some of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Southeast Asia is on course to be equivalent to the fourth
largest economy by 2030, with total trade in goods and services
between the UK and ASEAN worth £46.5 billion to the end of 2022,
helping deliver on the government’s priority of growing the
economy.
Later this month the UK will begin its formal accession to the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade bloc (CPTPP), further strengthening British
trade and investment links in the region.
Speaking ahead of the visit, the Foreign Secretary
said:
The security and economies of the UK and southeast Asia are more
closely linked than ever before.
That is why we are growing our long-term ties with dynamic,
fast-growing markets across this region and showing our support
for a strong, unified ASEAN – which is vital for the prosperity
and stability of the Indo-Pacific.
The UK and ASEAN are working together to deliver the ‘Plan of
Action 2022-2026’ to improve lives across the region, such as
ensuring girls across southeast
Asia can access quality education. This is in addition to UK
work in the wider Indo-Pacific, such as the Climate Action for a
Resilient Asia programme, which is upgrading homes and
infrastructure to withstand the impacts of climate change.
The Foreign Secretary will set out how the UK is working with
ASEAN to make the region safer, from leading the UNSC’s response
to the crisis in Myanmar, to engaging with navies across the
region and funding high-quality training on maritime security to
secure safe and open shipping lanes.
The UK has strong existing defence links across the region,
including British Forces Brunei and the Five Power Defence
Arrangements alongside Malaysia and Singapore. And the UK is
taking its support for regional leadership on defence, security
and stability to the next level by seeking membership of the
ASEAN Regional Forum and ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus.
The visit demonstrates how the UK is working through effective
multilateral organisations to safeguard a stable and open
international order, as set out by the Foreign Secretary in a
speech in London last
month.
The Foreign Secretary’s visit to Jakarta follows his attendance
at the NATO leaders’ summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The UK set out
clear support for a united NATO providing increased political and
practical support for Ukraine, as part of a robust global
multilateral system. After Jakarta, the Foreign Secretary will
travel to the United Nations in New York to lead sessions at the
UN Security Council, during the UK’s presidency this month.
The Integrated Review Refresh, published in March 2023, set out
how the UK will prioritise the Indo-Pacific, making the region a
permanent pillar of the UK’s international policy. Its steadfast
partnerships cement the UK’s enduring commitment to safeguarding
security, stability and prosperity across the world.
The Prime Minister, , visited Indonesia in November
2022 for the G20 leaders’ summit, where he set out his five point plan to
help the UK and international partners weather the global
economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Notes to editors
- Founded in 1967, ASEAN is a regional community that has
brought together ten Southeast Asian countries around a set of
common principles, as well as seeking to accelerate economic
growth, social progress and cultural development through joint
endeavours.
- The ASEAN member countries are: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam.
- The UK became an ASEAN Dialogue
Partner in 2021. A roadmap for UK-ASEAN economic, political
and security cooperation, the Plan of Action
2022-2026, was agreed in 2022.
- As well as the UK, current ASEAN Dialogue Partners are
Australia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, Republic
of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States of America.
- UK programmes in ASEAN countries have scope to deliver in
Myanmar through independent NGOs or UN agencies. No funding will
be provided to the military regime in Myanmar.
