WE, the Heads of State/Government of the Member Countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, on the occasion of the 9th ASEAN Plus Three Summit on 12 December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;

REAFFIRMING the need for a peaceful, stable and prosperous East Asian regional environment through mutual solidarity and concerted efforts;

FURTHER REAFFIRMING our commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and other universally recognised principles of international law which will serve as the basis of norms governing state-to-state relations;

RECALLING the 1999 Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation which sets out the principles and purposes of East Asia cooperation;

REITERATING our common resolve to realise an East Asian community as a long-term goal that would contribute to the maintenance of regional and global peace and security, prosperity and progress;

CONVINCED that the ASEAN Plus Three process will continue to be the main vehicle in achieving that goal, with ASEAN as the driving force and with the active participation of the ASEAN Plus Three countries in order to promote a sense of shared ownership;

RECOGNISING the importance of ASEAN integration and the ASEAN Community towards community building in the region and the continued support of the Plus Three countries for ASEAN’s efforts;

FURTHER RECOGNISING the important role played by the ASEAN Plus One processes to the overall cooperation within the ASEAN Plus Three framework;

CONFIDENT that the growing interactions among the ASEAN Plus Three countries will help promote greater dialogue and collective efforts to both harness opportunities and meet the challenges posed by a fast-changing and globalising world;

ACKNOWLEDGING with satisfaction the steady progress achieved to date in the ASEAN Plus Three cooperation in all areas has brought about mutual benefits and closer linkages, thus contributing to the community building in East Asia;

ENCOURAGED by the progress in the implementation of the short-term, and medium and long-term measures proposed in the East Asia Study Group (EASG) Final Report, which we endorsed in November 2002 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia;

WELCOMING the convening of the First East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur on 14 December 2005;

DO HEREBY DECLARE:

1. We will continue to hold the ASEAN Plus Three Summit annually in conjunction with the ASEAN Summit to guide and provide political momentum to East Asian community building under the ASEAN Plus Three cooperation.

2. We will commence collaborative efforts to prepare a second Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation on the tenth anniversary of the ASEAN Plus Three process in 2007 in order to consolidate existing cooperation and to set forth the future direction for the cooperation and East Asia community building, and task our Ministers to coordinate and undertake the necessary follow-up.

3. We will continue to encourage and support cooperation under the ASEAN Plus One processes to further contribute to the overall cooperation within the ASEAN Plus Three framework, which will form an integral part of the overall regional architecture in a complementary manner with other regional fora and processes.

4. We will speed up the implementation of the short-term, and medium and long-term measures of the EASG Final Report.

5. We will continue to support ASEAN integration, particularly in narrowing the development gap in order to realise the ASEAN Community and at the same time contributing to the building of an East Asian community as the long-term goal.

6. We will enhance people-to-people exchange aimed at developing a “we” feeling.

7. We will encourage the sharing of ideas through greater interaction between students, academicians, researchers, artists, media, and youths among countries in East Asia.

8. We will conduct regular exchange of intellectuals, members of think tanks, religious personalities and scholars, which will benefit East Asia and the world through deeper knowledge and understanding so as to fight intolerance and improve understanding among cultures and civilisations.

9. We will enhance and strengthen the various mechanisms crucial for the development of ASEAN Plus Three cooperation, including the ASEAN Plus Three Unit in the ASEAN Secretariat.

SIGNED at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the Twelfth Day of December in the Year Two Thousand and Five.

For Brunei Darussalam:

HAJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH
Sultan of Brunei Darussalam

For the Kingdom of Cambodia:

SAMDECH HUN SEN
Prime Minister

For the Republic of Indonesia:

DR. SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO
President

For the Lao People’s Democratic Republic:

BOUNNHANG VORACHITH
Prime Minister

For Malaysia:

DATO’ SERI ABDULLAH AHMAD BADAWI
Prime Minister

For the Union of Myanmar:

GENERAL SOE WIN
Prime Minister

For the Republic of the Philippines:

GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
President

For the Republic of Singapore:

LEE HSIEN LOONG
Prime Minister

For the Kingdom of Thailand:

DR. THAKSIN SHINAWATRA
Prime Minister

For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam:

PHAN VAN KHAI
Prime Minister

For the People’s Republic of China:

WEN JIABAO
Premier

For Japan:

JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI
Prime Minister

For the Republic of Korea:

ROH MOO-HYUN
President