8 September 2016: Leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the UN met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit to discuss increased cooperation and strengthening their partnership. Addressing the gathering, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed cooperation between the two organizations through the ASEAN-UN Plan of Action, which addresses the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and gender equality and women’s empowerment, among other issues.

Addressing the Eighth ASEAN-UN Summit on 7 September 2016, in Vientiane, Lao PDR, Ban encouraged ASEAN leaders to establish a coordinating mechanism to ensure the region’s implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He also thanked Lao PDR for being the first ASEAN country to deposit its instrument of ratification for the Paris Agreement. He called on other ASEAN countries that not have not yet done so to ratify the agreement.

Summit participants also discussed collaboration on enhancing food security and safety, nutrition, rural development, access to health care, improved capacity to control communicable diseases and manage natural resources, and how to ensure disaster-resilience and safer communities.

The Chair’s Statement from the summit also highlights discussion on: implementation of its ASEAN-UN 2015 Work Plan; the five-year plan of action (2016-2020) to implement the Joint Declaration on the Comprehensive ASEAN-UN Partnership, taking into account the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; ratification and implementation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs); cooperation in knowledge sharing with the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity and other relevant agencies; enhanced cooperation in implementing the Work Programme for the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response; and the third ASEAN-UN Strategic Plan of Action on Disaster Management covering 2016-2020. [UN Press Release] [Statement of UN Secretary-General] [Chairman’s Statement of Summit]