Phnom Penh, November 20, 2012 -- The leaders attending East Asia Summit (EAS) today urged the private sectors and concerned agencies to implement the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC).

In the Phnom Penh Declaration on the East Asia Summit Development Initiative released at the end of 7th EAS meeting, the leaders called on ASEAN to mobilize private sectors resources through public-private partnership and explore ways to set up a regional financing platform for infrastructure development.

In realizing the MPAC, the leader called on the ASEAN Secretariat to engage and seek supports from the EAS participating countries and other external parties including the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), UNESCAP, ADB, and the World Bank.

The EAS leaders come from the ASEAN-10, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia and US.Among other initiatives, the EAS leaders also called for enhancing cooperation on energy and food security, public health-related programs with the aim to improve the well beings of the people in the region. In this connection, ERIA and ADB are called for working closely with ASEAN.

ERIA was established in 2008 by EAS member states (ASEAN 10, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand). It is an international organization accommodated at the ASEAN Secretariat that engages researchers, academic institutions, policymakers, private sector and others from the region. For the past four years, ERIA has done numerous researches concerning the economic integration of ASEAN and East Asia, narrowing development gaps and sustainable economic development. ERIA also provides supports to ASEAN and East Asia Summits and related activities through its expertise on regional issues.

In 2009, the ASEAN leaders instructed ERIA to work together with Asia Development Bank and ASEAN Secretarial to prepare a master plan that would expand sub-regional initiatives and promote private sector participation. ERIA also helped draft the MPAC. Followed the instruction from the EAS leaders in 2010 and 2011, ERIA introduced the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) scorecards to evaluate the members' implementation performances of the AEC measures and their impacts. The Report of Mid-Term Review of the Implementation of AEC Blueprint was submitted to the 21st ASEAN Summit this week in Phnom Penh.

EAS Leaders call for more cooperation with ERIA to implement ASEAN Connectivity.pdf