Supreme Court E-Library
Information At Your Fingertips

December 16, 1969

Reference: This Joint Communique is also published in VIII DFA TS No. 1, p. 150.

1. The Third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting was held at Cameron High­ lands on the 16th and 17th December 1969. The Meeting was attended by His Excellency Dr. Adam Malik, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, the Honorable Mr. Carlos P. Romulo, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, His Excellency Mr. S. Rajaratnam, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore, His Excellency Tun Thanat Khoman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, and His Excellency Tun Abdul Razak, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. The Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Laos and the Republic of Vietnam were present as official Guests of the Malaysian Government. The Meeting was chaired by H, E. Tun Abdul Razak and the Honorable Mr. Carlos P. Romulo was elected Vice Chairman.

2. The Meeting was declared open by the Honorable the Prime Minister of Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. In his address, the Prime Minister extended to all delegates present the warmest of welcomes to Malaysia and remarked that it was a matter of paramount importance that ASEAN countries should get together and work together for the common good of the group in particular and of the region in general. He announced that as a result of a discussion between him and the Honorable Mr. Carlos P. Romulo, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, in the spirit of goodwill and friendship and because of the great value Malaysia and the Philippines placed on ASEAN, it was agreed that diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the Philippines would be normalized forthwith and that the ambassadors of their respective countries would be appointed. The Meeting warmly welcomed this happy development.

3. Throughout the course of deliberation, an atmosphere of cordial friendship and understanding prevailed and, cognizant of the common interests and common goal of member countries, the Ministers reaffirmed their determination to fulfill and to realize the laudable aims and purposes of the ASEAN Declaration in order to ensure peace and prosperity for all the peoples in the region. Renewed determination was expressed to strengthen further the organization, and to make vigorous action to implement the projects which have been approved by the Ministers.

4. The Ministers accepted the Report of the Standing Committee in Kuala Lumpur. The Report covered the activities and embodied recommendations submitted by the eight ad hoc, permanent and other committees of ASEAN during the past year. It showed the extent and scope of the progress

achieved in the implementation of projects considered by the committees. Some of the projects were bilateral in nature while others were multi-lateral in nature. These projects and recommendations were formulated and implemented to fulfill the aims and purposes of ASEAN in the economic, cultural, technical and administrative areas of cooperation.

5. The Ministers approved all the 98 recommendations contained in the Report, covering projects for cooperation among ASEAN countries in the fields of commerce and industry, tourism, shipping, civil aviation, air traffic services and meteorology, transportation and communications, food supply and production including fisheries, mass media, cultural activities and finance.

6. The Ministers also agreed to transform the ad hoc committees on finance, commerce and industry, tourism, transportation and communications into permanent committees in response to a need for their continuing function.

7. The Ministers signed two agreements, namely an Agreement for the Establishment of an ASEAN Fund and an Agreement for the Promotion of Cooperation in Mass Media and Cultural Activities.

8. They also agreed to hold the next Ministerial Meeting of ASEAN in the Philippines and, consequently, the seat of the Standing Committee for the next year would be in Manila.

9. The Ministers expressed their sincere appreciation to the Government and people of Malaysia and the ASEAN National Secretariat of Malaysia for the warm and generous hospitality and the efficient facilities provided for the Meeting.