PRESS RELEASES

The 7th Meeting between Japanese Task Force on Connectivity and ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee

13 June 2014

    The first Meeting this year between Japanese Task Force on Connectivity and ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee (ACCC) was held on 11 June 2014 in Surabaya, Indonesia. The Japanese delegation was headed by H.E. Mr. Koichi AIBOSHI, Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN, with other delegates including representatives of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as well as our Mission of Japan to ASEAN. From the ASEAN side, H.E. Mr. Min Lwin, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Myanmar to ASEAN attended as the Chair of ACCC, and other ACCC members, including many Permanent Representatives of the Member States to ASEAN, followed by officials from each Member State and the ASEAN Secretariat also participated in the meeting.

    In the meeting, the ASEAN Secretariat updated the meeting on the recent efforts, progresses and challenges in implementing the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC), while Japan presented the new List of Japan’s Cooperation Projects for Enhancing ASEAN Connectivity, which comprised 70 projects in total, by revision of the preceding list of Japan’s 33 Flagship Projects with addition of new projects proposed. In addition, Japan had another new participation of some line ministries in the meeting this time so that it could further cover and explain its ideas in detail on issues relating to the new line ministries such as health, medical care and food.

    ASEAN welcomed such Japan’s initiative for the new projects and for recent progress seen in projects under implementation as well as showed their interest such as on looking into the relevancy between some of the Japan’s new projects and their MPAC and its policy pillars.

    Japan including its private sectors is expected to continue advancing its endeavor to contribute to the strengthening of ASEAN Connectivity through close and continuous dialogues with ASEAN. This meeting of ACCC-Japan Task Force has been and will be a highlight of such endeavor.