JAKARTA, 12 November 2024 – ASEAN and France identified a number of new cooperation initiatives to steer their development partnership forward at the Fourth Meeting of the ASEAN-France Development Partnership Committee, held today at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat.
The new initiatives, among others cover activities in the areas of French language and culture, creative industries, tropical and peatlands management, humanitarian assistance landmines and explosive remnants of war, people-to-people exchanges and support for the ASEAN Power Grid initiative.
ASEAN welcomed France’s strong commitment to enhance the partnership including through the establishment of the ASEAN-France Fund, which aims to enhance tangible cooperation projects between ASEAN and France and contribute to progressing the implementation of the ASEAN-France PCA 2022-2026.
The Meeting explored opportunities to further enhance cooperation in various areas of mutual interests, including combatting transnational crime, energy including energy transition, food security, digital transformation including cybersecurity, health cooperation including mental health, biodiversity conservation, environmental protection, culture, creative economy, media and information, education, vocational training, human resources development, connectivity, smart cities and sustainable development, as well as mainstreaming the four priority areas under the ambit of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.
In addition to the three ongoing projects, namely the Sustainable Ship Waste Management for ASEAN, Promoting Energy Efficiency in Buildings in ASEAN, and the Air Quality Improvement Programme in ASEAN, both sides welcomed the commencement of the Multisector Capacity Building Facility Programme, focusing on capacity building in identified areas for officials of ASEAN Member States, the ASEAN Secretariat, and ASEAN Centres.
Recognising the importance of the ASEAN Junior Fellowship Programme (AJFP) in enhancing people-to-people contacts, France renewed its contribution of USD 100,000 from the ASEAN-France Fund and announced an additional USD 100,000 for the junior fellows to undertake a working visit to France to understand the country’s policy making process within the European Union (EU), in the multilateral context and bilaterally with ASEAN.
During the meeting, both sides noted the progress made in the implementation of the ASEAN-France Practical Cooperation Areas (2022-2026) in areas within the domain of transport, climate change, people-to-people exchanges, disaster management, capacity building, and air quality promotion.
The 4th AF-DPC Meeting was co-chaired by H.E. Dato’ Astanah Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political-Security Community and H.E. Fabien Penone, Ambassador of France to ASEAN. It was attended by members of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN and/or their representatives, officials from France and the ASEAN Secretariat. The Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to ASEAN attended as Observer.