The Bangkok Declaration of 1973 founded the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in order to "promote regional cooperation... in the spirit of equality and partnership and thereby contribute towards peace, progress, and prosperity in the region." Through the years, various modes of partnerships were established that paved the way for the realization of greater cooperation between the ASEAN Member Countries (AMC). With the Philippines as chair of the 12^th ASEAN Summit this year, a more people-centered approach in ASEAN integration and community building, inclusive of vulnerable sectors, is being targeted.

The current discourse within the ASEAN, however, shows a clear bias for economic integration, based on a misguided uniform policy of cutting tariffs without considering its impact on peoples' livelihood, food security, and farm development, as opposed to a holistic development of a community of people cooperating together within the region. Driven by market forces and globalization, regional economic integration is fast becoming a desirable goal among AMC. The region itself presents a formidable market for individual member-countries and a rich source of tradable goods and services. As such, cooperation among AMC within the frame of an ASEAN Community remains shallow.   

The establishment of an ASEAN Community has been articulated within the ASEAN and encompasses three areas namely, ASEAN Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community, and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. The current summit aims to build on the Vientiane Action Plan (VAP), which is the successor of the Hanoi Plan of Action and builds on the themes of the ASEAN Vision 2020. The VAP sets goals and strategies to realize an ASEAN Community "founded on the three pillars of political and security cooperation, economic cooperation and socio-cultural cooperation." It is considered ASEAN's blueprint of activities in the medium term covering the period 2004-2010. It is the instrument, which cross-links and unifies the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN Security Community and the Socio-Cultural Community established under the Bali Concord II document adopted at the 9^th ASEAN Bali Summit.

The VAP, however, is more concerned with economic integration rather than realizing a more holistic development of the ASEAN Community. First, the VAP seeks to; 1) strengthen current economic cooperation activities for completion by 2010; and 2) accelerate integration in the initial 11 priority sectors recommended by the High Level Task force on ASEAN Economic Integration which includes: agro-based products, air travel, automotives, e-ASEAN, electronics, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based products, textiles and apparel, tourism, and wood-based products. Second, the VPA also aims to address the development gaps within the region through the establishment of development zones.

The ASEAN Vision 2020 foresees a region of peace, freedom and neutrality. But operationally, it only seeks to "advance economic integration and cooperation by undertaking full implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area and to accelerate liberalization of trade in services, realize the ASEAN Investment Area by 2010 and the free flow of investments by 2020. It also seeks to intensify and expand sub-regional cooperation in existing and new sub-regional growth areas, further consolidate and expand extra-ASEAN regional linkages for mutual benefit, cooperate to strengthen the multilateral trading system, and reinforce the role of the business sector as the engine of growth."

The attempts at economic integration, however, come with a price. With steep competition comes loss of jobs for many workers and influx of cheap goods that compete with local producers. People are seen merely as suppliers of "skilled labor", the free flow of which within the region should be ensured. All in all, AMC are viewed as simple producers and consumers of goods and services traded within the region.

Confining the ongoing discourse of the ASEAN on trade and economic integration betrays the founding principle espoused in the Bangkok Declaration. More than trading partners, AMC face numerous opportunities for partnerships towards developing the region. Examples of these are: protection of the environment, ensuring food security and food safety at the regional level, poverty alleviation and bridging the development gap among the members, and promotion of women's rights, among others. To achieve this, AMC must move beyond economic integration and attempt to form an ASEAN Community.

The other face of the ASEAN Vision 2020 provides a glimpse of the ASEAN Community. It envisions a "community of caring societies". It foresees "vibrant and open ASEAN societies consistent with their respective national identities, where people enjoy equitable access to opportunities for total human development regardless of gender, race, religion, language, or social and cultural background." Further, it seeks to attain "a socially cohesive and caring ASEAN where hunger, malnutrition, deprivation and poverty are no longer basic problems, where strong families as the basic units of society tend to their members particularly the children, youth, women and elderly, and where civil society is empowered and gives special attention to the disadvantaged, disabled and marginalized and where social justice and the rule of law reign."

For small agricultural producers, a concrete step towards realizing the foregoing vision begins with the articulation of the multifunctional role of agriculture within the ASEAN. Such effort also encompasses locating the role of farmers, fishers and rural women beyond mere producers of goods.

National Agriculture and Fisheries' Stakeholders' Conference on the ASEAN
Philippine Social Science Center Building, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

For further information, please contact Jowen Berber or Miguel Musngi at Tel. Nos. 9287464 or 9266607.