At the meeting, which took place at the headquarters of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, ASEAN ambassadors applauded Italy’s commitments towards the grouping and the region through proposals of new projects, contributing to boosting the ASEAN-Italy development partnership, which was established in 2020.
Italian Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Manlio Di Stefano, who co-chaired the meeting, affirmed his support for ASEAN’s centrality and expressed his hope for more intensive and extensive cooperation with the bloc in such areas as climate change response, post-COVID-19 economic recovery, innovation, energy and cyber-crime combat.
The two sides agreed to approve the ASEAN-Italy Practical Cooperation Areas (PCA) for 2022-2026 – a document intended to create momentum and contribute to orienting their specific cooperation activities in politics-security, economy and culture-society.
Regarding regional and international issues of shared concern, they stressed the importance of ensuring the freedom of navigation and aviation, security and peace in the East Sea/South China Sea, as well as the significance of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups ten countries namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
