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Discourse: UK seeks to deepen cooperation with ASEAN following dialogue partner status: Envoy
Earlier this month, the United Kingdom became ASEAN’s 11th dialogue partner, ending the association’s 25-year moratorium on new dialogue partners. The Jakarta Post’s Dian Septiari talked with UK Ambassador to ASEAN Jon Lambe about the UK’s plans after upgrading its ties with the Southeast Asia’s regional bloc.
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United Kingdom Ambassador to ASEAN Jon Lambe (Courtesy of United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office/-)
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em>Earlier this month, the United Kingdom became ASEAN’s 11th dialogue partner, ending the association’s 25-year moratorium on new dialogue partners. The Jakarta Post’s Dian Septiari talked with UK Ambassador to ASEAN Jon Lambe about the UK’s plans after upgrading its ties with the Southeast Asian regional bloc. The following are excerpts from the interview:
Question: What is next for the UK in ASEAN?
Answer: We are really proud and happy to have joined ASEAN as the 11th dialogue partner after a long break. I think we feel that the level of partnership is really a good one for us to have. We feel it reflects the existing level of engagement that we have with ASEAN. We are really happy to have so much shared activity and cooperation.
In terms of the next step, in purely practical terms, we'll be taking forward the mechanics of dialogue partnership with ASEAN over the next few months to build up the framework that we need.
Read also: UK becomes ASEAN's newest dialogue partner, ending 25-year moratorium
In terms of the bigger priorities, what we're looking to do is continue to deepen our cooperation with ASEAN across its three different community pillars. We have a lot going on already but I think in particular we'll be looking to go a bit further on our cooperation on transnational crime, cybersecurity, maritime security and maritime law.
Clearly, economics and trade are really important for all of us at the moment. So, we'll be working closely with ASEAN on that as well as looking to support the recovery from COVID-19. I think, clearly, the kind of health impact of the pandemic is absolutely the top priority for all of us.
