HUA HIN, THAILAND // The international economic crisis dominated this year's annual summit of South East Asia's leaders, but political differences within the group plagued attempts to find increased unity despite the leaders agreeing in principle to making the bloc "people-centred".
The Asian alliance has always preferred to concentrate on economic co-operation and avoid confrontation and sensitive issues such as human rights and democracy.
The regional grouping, the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean), agreed to prevent protectionism and to promote economic integration within the bloc in response to the downturn.
"We agreed to push forward with the creation of an Asian economic community and strengthen the region's resilience," the current chairman of Asean, the Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, told journalists at the end of the two-day summit.
Open markets, unity and integration were the key elements of the region's economic recovery plan, according to the Thai premier. Throughout the meeting, the leaders were preoccupied with the economic problems in the United States. Many fear that Washington may now be tempted to introduce protectionist measures to help stem the severe economic downturn. This would be bad news for many South East Asia countries that rely heavily on exports, particularly to the US.
"We had a strong message for the US, and for all countries: protectionism is not the answer to the current economic crisis," Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary general of Asean, said. The experience of the Asian economic crisis in 1997 shows that bolstering exports is an effective policy for the countries in the region to revive their economies in times of crisis, he added.
Several key measures were adopted as part of the overall blueprint for economic revival and future development. These included establishing a regional rice fund, sharing oil resources, and increased co-operation in ensuring energy security. There were also separate agreements on promoting tourism in the region.
However, the main policy position was the need for increased liberalisation of the region's economies and to speed up their integration. "We are committed to free trade and will do whatever we can to prevent countries from resorting to protectionism to ease their way out of recession," Mr Abhisit said.
"We need to accelerate the development of an attractive single market and production base that will help attract foreign trade and investment," the Thai prime minister told journalists at the start of the summit. "If we start going down the route of protectionism, everybody will go down. It doesn't help anybody at the end."
South-east Asian nations have also now agreed to open up their markets further in a bid to create an economic zone loosely modelled on the European Union, but without a common currency, by 2015.
The group has said it needs to improve its competitiveness as China and India, the world's two fastest-growing major economies, are increasingly attracting more foreign investment at the expense of South-east Asia.
"Regional co-operation becomes even more important as we seek to pursue joint approaches and pool our resources to cope with difficulties that we all face," Haruhiko Kuroda, the Asian Development Bank president, told the leaders earlier at the summit.
But the leaders agreed that the group needed to look beyond its own borders for assistance if economic recovery were to be accomplished.
"We must reach out further, beyond the region," said Mr Abhisit. Asean can help the two power houses in Asia - India and China - to fuel the recovery, the Singaporean prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong told reporters yesterday. "At present the Asean engine is only working at half-strength," he said.
The Asean countries, together with Japan, China and South Korea, agreed last week to form a US$120 billion (Dh440bn) pool of foreign-exchange reserves that can be used by countries to defend their currencies to battle fallout from the global financial crisis.
Asean, comprising Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, has a combined gross domestic product of more than $1.1 trillion and a population of about 570 million.
But more controversially, the organisation has billed its vision of the future as a "people-centred" approach.
"We do care about the people," the Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said. "We want to hear the voices of the people."
This year's summit theme, "Asean Charter for Asean Peoples", was meant to introduce a dialogue between the leaders and civil society groups.
But it got off to a wobbly start when Cambodia and Myanmar refused to recognise the groups representing their countries. The meeting was almost cancelled, but went ahead when the Burmese and Cambodian delegates withdrew from the civil society delegation that was met by the leaders on Saturday.
"We must take gradual steps and encourage wider participation. This is something new. This is the first time and we will continue to make more progress," Mr Abhisit said.
"It won't be the last time," Mr Badawi added.
But the issue of Myanmar continued to dog the summit. In the past the member countries have been reluctant to criticise the country's leaders. This year some leaders, at least privately, did voice their concerns.
The Singaporean prime minister told his counterpart from Myanmar that there was now an opportunity for the junta to engage with the US and the international community - one that they should take, said one diplomat who declined to be identified.
"Asean will lose credibility if it is unable to sort out problems in our region," Lee Hsien Loong told the prime minister of Myanmar during the leaders retreat yesterday.
Many Asean diplomats are aware that Myanmar's human rights record and reluctance to introduce political reform are tarnishing the image of the organisation as a whole and undermines its credibility.
"As we prepare for the future as a group, increasing awareness of human rights and establishing a human rights body, Myanmar continues to lock up its political dissidents - and there is nothing we can do to change the generals' minds," said one diplomat.
"Asean will not change until Burma changes," said Khin Ohmar, a leading pro-democracy activist from Myanmar.
ljagan@thenational.ae
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
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Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
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There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
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UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures and results:
Monday, UAE won by three wickets
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
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6.30pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 Group One (PA) US$65,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
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UAE squad
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Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
Zayed Sustainability Prize
