ASEAN and Turkey to strengthen partnership

JAKARTA, 19 July 2019 — In an effort to push ahead with concrete cooperation, ASEAN and Turkey yesterday adopted a five-year roadmap to forge collaboration in areas of mutual interest.

The roadmap, Practical Cooperation Areas (PCA), was agreed at the 2nd Meeting of the ASEAN-Turkey Joint Sectoral Cooperation Committee (AT-JSCC) at the ASEAN Secretariat. The PCA will serve as the overall framework for engagement and cooperation between ASEAN and Turkey from 2019 to 2023. Both sides expressed strong commitment to effectively implement the PCA to further substantiate the partnership.

For this purpose, a dedicated fund to finance future ASEAN-Turkey cooperation projects has also been announced.

ASEAN and Turkey further exchanged views on ways and means to enhance ASEAN-Turkey cooperation in various areas stipulated in the PCA, including on countering terrorism and violent extremism, trade and investment, e-commerce, public-private partnership, MSMEs, tourism, renewable energy, science and technology, education, disaster management, ASEAN Smart Cities Network, sustainable development, culture, ASEAN connectivity and narrowing development gaps in ASEAN.

The AT-JSCC was co-chaired by Deputy Secretary-General for the ASEAN Political-Security Community Department Hoang Anh Tuan and Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to ASEAN Mahmut Erol Kılıç, and was attended by members of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN and a number of Turkish delegates.

The AT-JSCC Meeting is a key mechanism of ASEAN-Turkey Sectoral Dialogue Relations.

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