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The U.S. Mission to ASEAN partners with ASEAN and related stakeholders to advance U.S. interests in a peaceful, prosperous, and integrated Southeast Asia that respects the rule of law, upholds the dignity of its people and actively addresses regional and global concerns.
The United States began engaging with ASEAN as a dialogue partner in 1977, and has cooperated with ASEAN ever since. Starting in the early 1990s, development cooperation increased dramatically through the launch of economic programs focusing on trade and investment, technology transfer, and education.
Recognizing that America’s future prosperity and security are intertwined with the East Asia-Pacific region, President Barack Obama made a strategic commitment to rebalance the U.S. efforts and investments toward Asia including with Southeast Asia and ASEAN. The United States will remain a strong, reliable, and active partner in the region and is investing diplomatic, public diplomacy, military, and assistance resources in a way that is commensurate with the U.S. comprehensive engagement. The United States continue to emphasize economic development, energy cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, youth, and education.
The United States was the very first non-ASEAN country to name an Ambassador to ASEAN in 2008. In June 2010, the United States became the first non-ASEAN country to establish a dedicated Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta and in 2011 the first resident Ambassador to ASEAN was appointed. On November 3, 2014, Ambassador Nina Hachigian assumed her duties after presenting her credentials to ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh.
The partnership of the United States and ASEAN focuses on five areas including economic integration, maritime cooperation, ASEAN emerging leaders, opportunity for ASEAN women, and transnational challenges.
Recently, the U.S. and ASEAN have redoubled their cooperation on many issues. Political and security discussions have focused on the role of the United States in maintaining peace and stability in the region, the South China Sea disputes and the threat of terrorism. Economic engagement has seen the successful establishment of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. U.S.-ASEAN development cooperation has also focused on capacity building efforts in technology, education, disaster management, food security, human rights, and trade facilitation.
In 2015, the United States – ASEAN relationship was elevated to a Strategic Partnership in recognition of the importance of the cooperation. President Obama also hosted the first standalone U.S – ASEAN Summit at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California on February 15-16, 2016. This unprecedented gathering – the first hosted by the United States with the ASEAN leaders — built on the deeper partnership that the United States has forged with ASEAN since 2009 and will further advance the Administration’s rebalance to Asia and the Pacific. This summit provided leaders a forum to strengthen cooperation under the new U.S.-ASEAN strategic partnership, launched in November 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, on political, security, and economic issues.
At the historic summit in Sunnylands, President Obama announced U.S.-ASEAN Connect (“Connect”), a new U.S. Government’s strategic framework for economic engagement with ASEAN and the member states. Organized around four pillars – Business Connect, Energy Connect, Innovation Connect, and Policy Connect – the initiative provides strategic focus to ongoing and future U.S. economic activities in the region. U.S.-ASEAN Connect brings together all the resources and expertise of the U.S. government and private sector to create a whole-of-U.S. approach to economic engagement in the region. It reflects both the U.S. government and U.S. private sector’s desire to support ASEAN’s continued integration, including the success of the ASEAN Economic Community, and increased U.S.-ASEAN trade and investment.
In 2017, the United States and ASEAN will have worked toward stability, prosperity, and peace in Southeast Asia for 40 years.
U.S. Mission to ASEAN Units
Political Economic Public Affairs AID Programs Media ResourcesPolitical
The primary goals of the Political Unit are to promote political development in adherence to the principles of democracy, rule of law and good governance, and promotion and protection of human rights; to strengthen the relations between ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners and other countries; and to develop a comprehensive approach to traditional and non-traditional security, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. The political unit directs all aspects of the Political and Security portfolio under ASEAN, working in partnership with the ASEAN Secretariat Political & Security Directorate, the Committee of Permanent Representatives, and government officials on U.S. issues, initiatives, exercises, workshops, and programs for the East Asia Summit, the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOM-TC, law enforcement led), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF, foreign ministry led), the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus, defense ministry led), and Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum.
Economic
Economic Unit supports an economically strong ASEAN which is the United States’ third largest trading partner and the largest destination for U.S. foreign direct investment. The unit works closely on the U.S.-ASEAN Expanded Economic Engagement Initiative (E3) and the U.S.-ASEAN Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement (TIFA) as well as leads the efforts for enhanced U.S.-ASEAN trade and investment cooperation, increased ASEAN trade and foreign direct investment, improved trade facilitation regimes, harmonized ASEAN standards and technical requirements, and broader engagement of the private sector. The Mission supports trade facilitation reforms and harmonization of standards and technical requirements in ASEAN priority integration sectors, including the ASEAN Single Window. USASEAN coordinates the U.S. engagement on expanding ASEAN small and medium-sized enterprise access to regional and global markets, cooperation in the renewable energy sector with ASEAN.
Public Affairs
The Public Affairs Unit directs all aspects of the Mission’s communication activities including media and press relations, social media, cultural programming, as well as educational and professional exchange programs. Its programs including the Young Southeast Asia Leadership Initiative (YSEALI) highlight how Mission activities support the United States’ long-term commitment to the region and to ASEAN. PAS also supports and jointly develops initiatives with ASEAN on socio-cultural issues, such as the ASEAN Youth Volunteers Program, the Fulbright ASEAN Visiting Scholar Program, and the U.S.-ASEAN Science and Technology Fellows Program.
AID Programs
USAID supports ASEAN’s work within all three pillars of ASEAN integration — political-security, economic and socio-cultural — as well as ASEAN Secretariat institutional strengthening. USAID’s ASEAN-U.S. cooperation programs are working at the regional and national levels to strengthen ASEAN’s ability to achieve its goals in areas such as combating human trafficking, combating wildlife trafficking, promoting human rights. Programs are also helping to build disaster resilient communities and environmentally sustainable cities, strengthening food security, promoting youth leadership through volunteerism, addressing climate change and energy efficiency, and incorporating science and technology into policy-making.
Media Resources
The Public Affairs section of the U.S. Mission to ASEAN directs the Mission’s communications programs, which aim to build understanding between the United States, the ASEAN Secretariat, and ASEAN’s 600 million citizens. If you are a member of the press and would like to be on our distribution list for press releases and media alerts, please send an email to usaseanpress@state.gov with your name, press agency, email address, and mobile phone number. The press is also invited to follow us on Facebook (USMission2ASEAN),Twitter (USMission2ASEAN), and Instagram (USMission2ASEAN) which are all updated regularly and may offer exclusive content from live events.
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 and its implementation as guided by the AEC Blueprint 2025 was a crucial initiative to integrate ten ASEAN Member States (AMS) into a single market and production base.
People of ASEAN depend on the ocean for the food they eat, the air they breathe and their livelihoods. The United States actively contributes to a safe, free, open and secure maritime common through cooperation with ASEAN.
Research shows that the more girls and women are educated and join the workforce, the more economies grow, infant mortality falls, and communities improve. To this end, the U.S. Mission to ASEAN has partnered with ASEAN to empower women in the region.
The United States works with ASEAN to address 21st century challenges that cross borders, such as cyber security, wildlife trafficking, disaster management, trafficking in persons, counterterrorism and countering violent extremism.
ASEAN has prioritized youth engagement under its SocioCultural Community Blueprint to encourage youth involvement and leadership in ways that contribute to personal development and benefit the ASEAN Community.
For more information on U.S. bilateral relations with ASEAN countries, please visit the websites of our colleagues around the region
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