Themed “Our People, Our Future Together”, the summit seeks ways to consolidate the gains made to meet the 2015 target of having an economically integrated, politically cohesive and socially responsible ASEAN Community and to secure ASEAN’s place in the global community of nations by 2015 and beyond.

Bruneian Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said in his opening remarks that ASEAN is at important moment to realize the building of a three-pillar based community by 2015.

The Sultan suggested ASEAN leaders remove obstacles to accelerate the ASEAN community building, and strengthen connectivity and cooperation in order to double the bloc’s combined GDP to US$4.4 trillion and reduce poverty rate to 9.3% by 2015.  

ASEAN leaders acknowledged the achievements made in carrying out master plans on building the ASEAN community based on the three key pillars: politics-security, economics, and socio-culture in 2013, of which approximately 80% of the ASEAN Economic Community’s workload had been completed.

They said ASEAN should rally more resources and increased coordination at national and regional levels to fulfill the target, while fostering inner connectivity and linkages so as to expand cooperation in East Asia.

They stressed ASEAN’s central role in forming a regional architecture to ensure an environment of peace, security and development in the region.

Accordingly, ASEAN needs to strengthen solidarity to address key regional issues, enhance dialogue and confidence building measures, share standards of conduct, and promote tools and mechanisms for political and security cooperation in the region, such as the Treaty of Amity Cooperation (TAC), the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ), the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+), and the East Asia Summit (EAS).

They said ASEAN should also play a central role in expanding connectivity and linkages in the entire East Asian region through initiatives including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), ASEAN+3 Connectivity, and EAS Connectivity.

In addition ASEAN should boost cooperation with its partners and intensify efforts to respond to non-traditional challenges such as disaster management, maritime security, climate change, and food and energy security.

The leaders also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common concern, notably those in the East Sea, the Middle East, Syria, and the Korean peninsula.

Regarding the East Sea issue, they stressed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security and maritime safety in the sea, as well as strict implementation of ASEAN’s Six-Point Principles on the East Sea, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and the ASEAN-China declaration marking 10 years of the DOC.

They underlined the need to settle disputes through peaceful means and international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

They welcomed the first ASEAN-China consultation on the Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea as a key step towards reaching a complete document on the issue.

They also agreed to accelerate the implementation of initiatives on the establishment of hotlines, search and rescue operations and humanitarian aid to people and boats in distress at sea.

To set orientations for the grouping beyond 2015, the leaders said ASEAN needs to deepen community building efforts and fully enhance its pivotal role in strengthening linkages, peace and development in the region.

They adopted a post-2015 Vision for ASEAN and assigned the ASEAN Coordinating Council to work out key contents of the Vision which will be submitted to the following ASEAN Summit in 2014./.