1 November 2010: The Third Summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took place on 29 October 2010 in Hanoi, Viet Nam, to address, among other issues, climate change, food and energy security, and disaster risk reduction.
In their ensuing Statement, the Summit Co-Chairs state that the meeting: stressed the importance of addressing climate change and welcomed progress made by ASEAN towards achieving priorities set out in the Bali Action Plan; agreed that food security challenges should be addressed holistically in conjunction with natural resource management, including water resources; and decided to explore ways to promote energy cooperation to ensure greater security and sustainability of energy. The UN committed to support ASEAN’s efforts to promote the development of centres for research and development on renewable energy in the region.
The Statement also provides that Summit participants welcomed the launch of the Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan and the adoption of the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-UN Collaboration in Disaster Management, agreeing to prepare and implement an ASEAN-UN strategic plan of action on disaster management 2011-2015 in close consultation with the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management, the ASEAN Secretariat and other established UN mechanisms for coordination of responses to disasters.
The meeting further decided that, under the overall guidance of the ASEAN Chair and the UN Secretary-General, during 2011-2012, the Secretariats of the two organizations will be entrusted with the responsibility to coordinate the implementation of, inter alia: continued provision of UN assistance to ASEAN in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), jointly exploring feasible means to help close development gaps among ASEAN Member States; preparation and implementation of the ASEAN-UN strategic plan of action on disaster management 2011-2015; and regular Secretariat-to-Secretariat dialogue on the ASEAN-UN partnership, including to identify further areas for enhanced cooperation and collaboration.
The meeting agreed that the annual meetings between the ASEAN foreign ministers, the UN Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly, with the presence of the Secretary-General of ASEAN (ASEAN-UN ministerial meetings), should continue to take place during the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in September. [Statement by the Co-Chairs of the Summit]