At the 15th ASEAN Summit in 2009, Cha-am Hua-Hin, Thailand, the Leaders agreed with Thailand’s proposal for the enhancement of ASEAN Connectivity to strengthen the region in moving towards the ASEAN Community in 2015. They established the High Level Task Force on ASEAN Connectivity (HLTF-AC) to complete the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) and submit the MPAC for consideration and adoption at the 17th ASEAN Summit in 2010.
To realize the ASEAN Community and continued economic growth, The MPAC aims to enhance physical, institutional and people-to-people linkages at the national and regional levels.
To facilitate the implementation of projects under the MPAC, ASEAN established the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee (ACCC) to discuss ways to accelerate the full implementation of the MPAC.
ASEAN also established the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to finance infrastructure projects in conjunction with other sources, such as funding from individual ASEAN member states, Dialogue partners and international development agencies. Initially, the Fund’s priority is given to viable projects in the areas of transport, energy and water management.
While progress has been made on physical connectivity, ASEAN still needs to harmonize the laws and regulations to facilitate transport between each other. Furthermore, ASEAN also seeks to promote connectivity beyond ASEAN, particularly between ASEAN and other regions including East Asia. A successor MPAC is envisaged for the post-2015 period.
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