Senior officials of ASEAN and the UK reaffirmed commitment to further strengthen ASEAN-UK Dialogue Partnership and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation at the second ASEAN-UK Senior Officials’ Meeting (AUKSOM) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei on June 8.

The meeting was co-chaired by Johariah Wahab, Permanent Secretary and SOM Leader of Brunei and Jenny Bates, Director-General, Indo-Pacific at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the UK and SOM Leader of the UK.

Both sides exchanged views on the developments in ASEAN and the UK and reviewed bilateral cooperation across the three pillars of the ASEAN Community. They took note of the progress made in the implementation of the ASEAN-United Kingdom Plan of Action (POA) for the 2022-2026 period and looked forward to further enhance the partnership in areas of mutual interest.

They encouraged bilateral cooperation in the four areas identified under the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific that is inclusive, mutually beneficial, and directed towards the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.

ASEAN welcomed the first ASEAN-UK project to be implemented under the POA entitled “Promoting Women and Girls’ Education in ASEAN” which was announced at the 19th Education World Forum in London in May 2023. The UK also introduced its flagship multi-year development programmes to support the implementation of the POA on girls’ education; economic integration; women, peace and security; health systems; and climate transition.

The two sides further discussed ways to deepen the ASEAN-UK collaboration in areas such as maritime cooperation, transnational crime, cyber security, trade and investment; micro, small and medium Enterprises (MSMEs); digital transformation and inclusivity, sustainable development and decarbonisation, environment and climate change, people-to-people contacts, education, health, connectivity, narrowing development gap, smart cities and infrastructure.

Their views on regional and international issues of shared concern focused on regional economic developments and multilateral trading system, the importance of maintaining ASEAN’s Centrality in the evolving regional architecture, the situation in the East Sea, developments in Myanmar, and the situation in Ukraine./.