ASIATODAY.ID, VIENTIANE – The ASEAN-Canada Special Summit held on October 10 2024 at the National Convention Center, Vientiane, Laos.
Canadian Prime Minister (PM) Justin Trudeau met for the third time with the heads of government of ASEAN member countries.
When conveying his views, the Canadian PM expressed his appreciation for ASEAN as the fastest growing region in the world today. Canada has always looked at ASEAN as a dynamic and interesting region.
The Coordinating Minister for the Indonesian Economy, Airlangga Hartarto, led the Indonesian Delegation to convey Indonesia’s views at the forum.
Airlangga stated that ASEAN as a region must be integrated with other regions in the world. Canada is one of the countries in the Indo-Pacific region, where ASEAN’s position is central. With Canada becoming a strategic dialogue partner for ASEAN, this is one of the implementation elements of the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP).
“Implementation of AOIP elements will enable ASEAN to establish inclusive cooperation for the creation of shared peace and prosperity,” explained Airlangga.
Canada as the United States’ front yard has enormous potential, including the development of clean energy technology, education, critical minerals and market access to the United States.
Airlangga also conveyed innovative ideas to improve ASEAN cooperation with Canada in the future.
First, increasing economic cooperation by adopting clean technology which is widely developed in Canada. The country is expected to become ASEAN’s strategic partner to develop clean energy technology through funding and technology transfer.
Furthermore, Airlangga encouraged cooperation in energy transition technology, such as Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and palm oil-based fuel. SMR is a small-to-medium scale nuclear energy technology that is currently being widely developed in the world as a cleaner source that is cheaper and safer. Indonesia itself has started conducting SMR assessments.
Apart from that, Airlangga hopes for the completion of free trade negotiations.
“Free Trade Agreement negotiations between Canada and ASEAN need to be completed immediately next year, in order to increase market access and strengthen global supply chains, including critical minerals,” said Airlangga.
Second, cooperation in the field of food security. In 2023, ASEAN and Canada agreed on the ASEAN-Canada Joint Leaders’ Statement on Strengthening Food Security and Nutrition in Response to Crises, which is the basis for a joint commitment to strengthening food and nutrition security. As a follow-up, Canada has opened the Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office (IPAAO) in Manila.
“It needs to be used to encourage concrete cooperation, including collaboration on agricultural technology and sustainable food systems to ensure smooth fertilizer supplies,” said Airlangga.
The leaders of ASEAN member countries raised several other issues such as strengthening digital sector cooperation and increasing people-to-people connections. In order to improve relations between the two, Canada will open embassies in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Vientiane, Laos, so that it has representatives in all ASEAN countries.
The ASEAN Heads of Government also raised the need to expand and improve the Canada-ASEAN Scholarships and Educational Exchanges for Development (SEED) program to encourage knowledge transfer and improve the quality of the younger generation in the region, including to support digitalization and technology adoption.
In his closing speech, Prime Minister Trudeau positively welcomed the Small Modular Reactor cooperation initiative proposed by Indonesia, considering that Canada has advantages in the field of nuclear and renewable energy.
Prime Minister Trudeau also conveyed the importance of responsible and inclusive development of Artificial Intelligence, so that its benefits can be felt by all groups.
The ASEAN-Canada Special Summit Meeting succeeded in adopting the Joint Leaders’ Statement on Enhancing ASEAN Connectivity and Resilience as a commitment to strengthening regional connectivity and resilience.
Economic relations between ASEAN and Canada have generally improved in the last five years even though they were also impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the economic slowdown in 2023. The total value of trade between Canada and ASEAN reached US$20.27 billion in 2023, up from US $17.15 billion in 2019.
Canadian investment into ASEAN also shows relatively stable performance, namely in the range of US$3-4 billion, except in 2022 which will be US$825 million. (AT Network)
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