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July 29, 2005

RECOGNISING that terrorism constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security and economic prosperity of the world in general and to ASEAN and Pakistan in particular;

MINDFUL of the 2001 ASEAN Declaration on Joint Action to Couter Terrorism, which, inter alia, undertakes to strengthen cooperation at bilateral, regional and international levels;

REAFFIRMING their determination to prevent, suppress, combat and eliminate international Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and International law and having regard to all relevant United Nations resolutions or declarations on international terrorism and affirming that the United Nations should play a major role in combating terrorism;

RECOGNISING the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of other Stales;

REJECTING any attempt to associate terrorism with any religion, race or nationality;

ACKNOWLEDGING the achievements made by the ASEAN Member Countries and their partners in the fight against terrorism and the continuing commitment of the ASEAN Regional Forum [ARF) to strengthen regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism;

RECOGNISING that the transboundary character of terrorism calls for an international response, the fight against terrorism requires a comprehensive approach by the international community comprising political, economic, diplomatic, military and legal means in accordance with our respective domestic laws, duly taking into account root causes of terrorism without acknowledging these as justifications for terrorist and/or criminal activities;

ENCOURAGED by the strong cooperation between the Member Countries of ASEAN and Pakistan on security, intelligence and law enforcement matters;

DESIRING to strengthen and expand this cooperation between relevant agencies concerned in ASEAN and Pakistan to fight international terrorism;

Declare as follows

Objectives:

1. The Participants reaffirm the importance of having a framework for cooperation to prevent, suppress, disrupt and combat international terrorism through information exchange, intelligence sharing and capacity-building.

Scope and Areas of Cooperation:

2. The Participatns stress their commitment to seek to implement the principles laid out in this Declaration, in accordance with their respective domestic laws and their specific circumstances, in any or all of the following areas:

i. Enhance cooperation among their law enforcement and security agencies to strengthen counter-terrorism measures;

ii. Continue and imporve intelligence and terrorist financing information sharing on counter terrorism measures including the development of more effective policies and legal, regulatory and administrative counter-terrorism regimes;

iii. Strengthen capacity-building efforts through training and education; consultations between officials, analysts and field operators; and seminars, conferences and other joint effort;

iv. Continue to explore cooperation with the Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (SEARCCT) in Malaysia, the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Thailand and the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC) in Indonesia;

v. Provide assistance on transportation security and border and immigration control, including document and identify fraud, to stem effectively the flow of terrorist-related material, money and people;

vi. Implement the measures copntained in the ARF's Statement on Cooperative Counter-Terrorism Action on Border Security, the ARF Statement on Cooperation against Piracy and Other Threats to Maritime Security, the ARF Statement on Transport Security Against international Terrorism and to other relevant ARF Statement where appropriate;

vii. Comply with United Nations resolutions and declarations on terrorism, particularly United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1267, 1269, 1373, 1455, 1456, and having regard to other United Nations resolutions or declarations on international terrorism, where applicable;

viii. Continue to support development projects that aim at reducing poverty and socie-economic disparity and injustices, as well as promoting the elevation of standards of living, in particular of underprivileged groups and people in underdeveloped areas; and

ix. Explore on a mutual basis additional areas of cooperation.

3. The Participants are called upon to become parties to all 13 United Nations conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.

Participation:

4. The Participants are called upon to designate a contact point for the purposes of implementing this Declaration.

Disclosure of Information:

5. The Participants expect that no participant would disclose or distribute any confidential information, documents or data received in connection with this Declaration to any third party, at any time, except to the extent agreed in writing by the participant that provided the information.

Implementation:

6. All the Participants are urged to promote in good faith the provisions of the present Declaration in all its aspects.

Done at Vientiane, Lao PDR, this Twenty-Ninth Day of July n the Year Two Thousand and Five, in two original copies in the English Language.