UNDERSTANDING ASEAN’S POLICY-MAKING PROCESSES A Simple Guide for Civil Society Groups Wishing to Engage ASEAN

Who makes policy decisions in ASEAN? ASEAN Summit –ASEAN Heads of State/Government of the 10 Member Countries meet formally at least once a year. –This year, the 11 th ASEAN Summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur (KL Convention Centre) from December –Last year, the 10 th ASEAN Summit was held in Vientiane, from 29 – 30 November –On the eve of a Summit, ASEAN Leaders meet in a working dinner. –ASEAN Leaders exchange views in a plenary session. SG of ASEAN presents the annual Report Card on ASEAN, and serves as a resource person to assist the ASEAN Chair. Other delegates observe the plenary session in a listen room. –ASEAN Secretariat compiles key points and decisions of each ASEAN Summit for follow-up.

ASEAN+3, ASEAN+1, EAS ASEAN Leaders meet their counterparts from Dialogue Partner Countries once every year as part of the ASEAN Summit : *ASEAN Plus Three Summit (with China, Japan, the RoK) *ASEAN Plus One Summits with China, Japan, the RoK, India *At the 11 th ASEAN Summit, ASEAN+Russia Summit will be held for the first time *Also for the first time, there will be the East Asia Summit in KL on 14 December 2005 morning Participants are : ASEAN Leaders, China, Japan, RoK, India, Australia, and New Zealand

Special Meetings of ASEAN Leaders ASEAN Leaders occasionally meet others in special meetings : * First ASEAN-UN Summit, Bangkok, 12 February 2000 * Special ASEAN Leaders on SARS, Bangkok, 29 April 2003 * ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit, Tokyo, 12 December 2003 * ASEAN-Australia and New Zealand Commemorative Summit, Vientiane, 30 November 2004 * Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on Aftermath of Earthquake and Tsunami, Jakarta, 6 January 2005 * Asian-African Summit, Jakarta, April 2005 * 50 th Anniversary of 1955 Bandung Conference, Bandung, 24 April 2005 * Second ASEAN-UN Summit, New York, 13 September 2005

ASEAN Leaders also attend APEC Economic Leaders Meeting This year, the annual APEC summit will be held in Pusan, the RoK In 2006, it will be held in Viet Nam. Asia-Europe Summit (ASEM), which is held once every two years In 2004, it was held in Ha Noi World Summit at the UN in New York

ASEAN Ministers ASEAN has 25 ministerial bodies The big three are : * The AMM (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting of Foreign Ministers) Malaysian Foreign Minister is the Chairman of the 39 th ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) * The AEM (ASEAN Economic Ministers) Lao PDR is the Chair. * The AFMM (ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting ) Cambodia is the Chair.

AMM 38 th AMM was held in Vientiane, July 2005; 39 th AMM will be held in Malaysia; 40 th AMM in the Philippines AMM Working Dinner AMM plenary session AMM Retreat, (Retreat of ASEAN FMs, Informal AMM in New York) Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) ASEAN+10 PMC ASEAN+1 ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)

Senior Officials Meetings / Committees ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (ASEAN SOM) ASEAN Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) ASEAN Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting (AFDM) ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) Functional Committees : * ASEAN Senior Officials on Drugs (ASOD) * ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN) * Committee on Science and Technology (COST) * Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOM-TC) etc.

Decision-Making Processes Top Down + Bottom Up Consultation and Consensus Small-group meeting when coping with sensitive issues : * Summit Dinner * AMM Dinner, AMM Retreat * Closed session The ASEAN Way

Anatomy of a Policy Decision : The Plan of Action of the ASEAN Security Community Bali Concord II Declaration 2003 ASEAN Community to be built on three pillars : 1. ASEAN Security Community 2. ASEAN Economic Community 3. ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Indonesia, as ASEAN Chair in , volunteered to take the lead in drafting the Plan of Action of the ASEAN Security Community Indonesian MFA officials sought inputs from the academics Indonesian MFA officials generated ideas from internal brainstorming sessions with officials from other Indonesian agencies

Consultations, Revisions and More Consultations The first (confidential) draft of the Plan of Action was circulated for comments and suggestions of ASEAN Member Countries and ASEAN Secretariat; ASEAN Secretariat consulted ASEAN bodies for inputs Indonesia incorporated comments and suggestions into a revised draft Plan of Action The revised draft Plan of Action is discussed in a meeting of ASEAN Senior Officials (ASEAN SOM), who are mostly MFA Permanent Secretaries Sensitive parts of the draft were discussed among the Senior Officials in closed sessions, in which the Secretary-General of ASEAN also took part New revised draft brought back to capitals for further internal consultations

Endorsement and Adoption New comments and suggestions from Member Countries and ASEAN Secretariat were sent to Indonesia ASEAN SOM once again went over the new revised draft; additional changes were considered and agreed upon The proposed draft was submitted to the 37 th AMM in Jakarta ASEAN Foreign Ministers endorsed the draft for submission to the 10 th ASEAN Summit ASEAN Leaders adopted the Plan of Action at their 10 th ASEAN Summit in Vientiane