The ASEAN Roundtable
The ASEAN Roundtable is a flagship event of the Centre, and is held annually around a theme pertinent to ASEAN integration efforts. ASEAN Roundtable themes focus on issues and challenges that confront ASEAN member states in accomplishing the ASEAN Community. Past Roundtables to date have addressed the following topics; summaries of findings and recommendations have been issued as reports and monographs by the Centre.
ASEAN Roundtable 2014: “Moving Towards a People-Centred ASEAN”
ASEAN Roundtable 2013: “Mid-Term Review of the ASEAN Political Security Blueprint, and Political
Cooperation beyond 2015″
ASEAN Roundtable 2012: “Examining the ASEAN Economic Community Scorecard”
ASEAN Roundtable 2011: “Achieving the ASEAN Economic Community 2015: Challenges for
Member Countries”
ASEAN Roundtable 2009: “The Global Economic Crisis: Implications for ASEAN”
ASEAN Roundtable 2008: “ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint”
This programme, starting December 2012, was conducted with support from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. It included training seminars held in 2012 at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, to assist Myanmar government officials from key ministries involved in preparing for the 2014 ASEAN Chair responsibilities; and two public seminars in Yangon in March 2013, to boost the public audience’s understanding of ASEAN and Myanmar’s ASEAN chairmanship. Topics discussed during these activities included: a. The Role and Nature of ASEAN meetings; b. Myanmar’s ASEAN role, ASEAN External Relations under Myanmar’s Leadership; c. South China Sea, Political and Security Issues in ASEAN, the ASEAN Charter; d. ASEAN Economic Community; and e. Social Issues for ASEAN. At the concluding activity in January 2014, the ASC team had a roundtable discussion with Myanmar officials who would chair and lead discussions at the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM), the Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) and the Senior Officials Committee on the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (SOCA) to be held in Myanmar in 2014. While in Nay Pyi Taw, Mr Severino and the ASC team members also met with Myanmar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Wunna Maung Lwin.
With the ASEAN Charter’s entry into force on 15 December 2008, several implementation issues have emerged as members strive to understand, share and promote the Charter among various stakeholders in the regional and in their respective national contexts. To assist ASEAN officials and ASEAN Secretariat officers, the ASEAN Studies Centre developed and conducted a train-the-trainers course on understanding the key provisions of the Charter and their rationale. The course focused on helping the officials understand the implications of the Charter; how its implementation is in both regional and domestic interests in ASEAN; and the impact of the Charter’s implementation on regional and national cooperation. The inaugural training took place at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on 17-20 November 2009, with support from the Japan-Singapore Partnership Programme for the 21st Century (JSPP21). Centre Head Rodolfo Severino led the training team, comprising Lead Researchers S Tiwari (who passed away on 26 July 2010) and Moe Thuzar. Over the three-year duration of the project, over 100 officers from the ten ASEAN member states and the ASEAN Secretariat have participated in the trainings, which also featured interactive sessions with high-level officials involved in the Charter process, as well as senior ASEAN Secretariat officials.