We, the Foreign Ministers of Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia gathered in Manila, Philippines, on 1 August 2007;

NOTING with satisfaction that since 1974 when Australia became the first Dialogue Partner of ASEAN, relations between ASEAN and Australia have grown from strength to strength, and have been nurtured through the annual ASEAN Post Ministerial Conferences, the ASEAN-Australia Forum as well as other relevant fora and further strengthened by the ASEAN-Australia and New Zealand Commemorative Summit;

RECALLING the Joint Declaration of the Leaders at the ASEAN-Australia and New Zealand Commemorative Summit, signed in Vientiane on 30 November 2004, the ASEAN-Australia Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism in 2004 and the accession of Australia to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 2005 which reflected Australia's firm commitment to the promotion of peace and stability in the region;

CONVINCED that establishing a comprehensive ASEAN-Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) would further deepen economic integration between ASEAN and Australia, promote growth and development, improve living standards of the people throughout the region, and provide a platform for economic engagement in the long term;

WELCOMING the breadth, maturity and continuing progress of ASEAN-Australia cooperation, on political and security, economic, socio-cultural and development issues;

ACKNOWLEDGING Australia's significant and on-going efforts to support ASEAN's development and integration as envisaged in ASEAN Vision 2020 and the Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II) through development cooperation both bilaterally and regionally, including the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program (AADCP) and Australia's contribution to the ASEAN Development Fund (ADF);

REAFFIRMING the important role of ASEAN and Australia in maintaining sustainable peace and security in the region and reiterating Australia's and ASEAN's commitment to working together in this regard;

REALISING that the multifaceted challenges and opportunities arising from globalisation, regional integration and integration within ASEAN provide grounds for reinforcing on-going ASEAN-Australia cooperation and expanding into new areas of mutual interest and enhancing people-to-people contacts;

SHARING common values of justice, democracy, social equality, good governance, human rights and caring societies that are the foundation for lasting peace, stability, progress, and prosperity according to the Charter of the United Nations;

ADHERING to the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and other universally recognised principles of international law;

REAFFIRMING our faith in, and respect for, each other's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, renunciation of threat or use of force, peaceful settlement of disputes, mutual respect and mutual benefit as enshrined in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia;

EXPRESSING desire to continue working closely together on the basis of the friendship, goodwill and understanding for the realisation of an ASEAN Community, comprising ASEAN Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community; and reducing the development gap within ASEAN through the implementation of the Vientiane Action Programme (VAP) and its appropriate successor programmes as well as the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI);

ASEAN AND AUSTRALIA HEREBY:

Mutually decide to launch an ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Partnership that is action-oriented, forward-looking and encompassing political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, socio-cultural cooperation and development cooperation at regional and international levels including, but not limited to, the following elements:

Political and Security Cooperation

1. Engage in dialogue and support efforts to realise the ASEAN Security Community in order to help promote peace, stability, security, development and prosperity in the region;

2. Promote closer cooperation in order to address, prevent and combat transnational crimes, including terrorism, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, money laundering, sea piracy, arms smuggling, cyber crime and international economic crime by undertaking joint activities based on existing agreements and mechanisms;

3. Also collaborate to address other crimes, such as corruption, people smuggling and illegal activities relating to fishing and encroachment and destruction of forest resources;

4. Cooperate in areas of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD);

5. Strengthen the various regional frameworks and fora, including the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and ensuring their complementarity in advancing the common interests of ASEAN and Australia in promoting stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region, with ASEAN as the primary driving force in the ARF and the EAS;

6. Cooperate in multilateral frameworks, including the United Nations;

Economic Cooperation

7. Enhance cooperation in support of deeper economic integration between ASEAN and Australia and the realisation of an ASEAN Economic Community within 2015;

8. Promote favourable environments for trade, investment and other economic linkages between ASEAN and Australia, which will help sustain and boost economic growth in ASEAN and Australia;

9. Fully commit to work towards concluding the negotiations of the AANZFTA by 2007 as well as to ensure full implementation of the Agreement thereafter;

10. Enhance cooperation in areas of mutual economic interest;

11. Strengthen cooperation in multilateral frameworks concerning regional and international trade and economy, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), APEC and EAS to ensure equitable benefits from globalisation and economic liberalisation and, towards this end, urge WTO Members to restart and complete the Doha Round negotiations as soon as possible;

12. Promote and strengthen financial cooperation in areas of mutual interest;

13. Support the early accession of the Lao PDR to the WTO;

14. Promote greater interaction between the private as well as public sectors in ASEAN and Australia and recognise the pivotal role of the business community;

Socio-cultural Cooperation

15. Enhance cooperation in support of mutual socio-cultural goals, such as by addressing poverty, equity, health and other social impacts of economic growth and integration; preserving and promoting the region's cultural heritage and cultural identity;

16. Strengthen collaboration to address the threat of communicable and emerging infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, SARS, and avian influenza at sub-regional, regional and global levels;

17. Foster greater cooperation in disaster preparedness, mitigation and emergency response as well as rehabilitation and reconstruction;

18. Promote closer cooperation in environmental conservation, including transboundary environmental pollution, and sustainable natural resources management;

19. Continue cooperation in science and technology in areas of mutual interest;

20. Enhance cooperation in education such as by encouraging and facilitating student and academic exchanges;

21. Promote people-to-people contacts, in particular among youths and the media, as well as interfaith dialogues and exchanges of cultural activities in order to further improve understanding between ASEAN and Australia;

22. Strengthen networking and interactions with and among private sectors, civil societies, experts and scholars in order to tap their expertise, initiatives and ideas, particularly with regard to policy planning and socio-economic development;

Development Cooperation

23. Further support, through the AADCP and other current and future development cooperation programmes, the foregoing as pillars of the VAP and its successor programme as well as the IAI aiming to alleviate poverty, to narrow the development gap and to promote sustainable development within ASEAN; and

Follow-Up

24. Call on ASEAN and Australian senior officials to coordinate with their relevant agencies to develop a Plan of Action to implement the ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Partnership and annually review and report its progress to the PMC Session with Australia.

Done at Manila, Philippines, this First Day of August in the Year Two Thousand and Seven in two original copies in the English Language.

• For Brunei Darussalam:
  MOHAMED BOLKIAH
  Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• For the Kingdom of Cambodia:
  HOR NAMHONG
  
  Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
• For the Republic of Indonesia:
  DR. N. HASSAN WIRAJUDA
  Minister for Foreign Affairs
• For the Lao People's Democratic Republic:
  DR. THONGLOUN SISOULITH
  Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• For Malaysia:
  DATO' SERI SYED HAMID ALBAR
  
  Minister of Foreign Affairs
• For the Union of Myanmar:
  NYAN WIN
  Minister for Foreign Affairs
• For the Republic of the Philippines:
  ALBERTO G. ROMULO
  Secretary of Foreign Affairs
• For Australia:
  ALEXANDER DOWNER
  
  Minister for Foreign Affairs
• For the Republic of Singapore:
  GEORGE YONG-BOON YEO
  
  Minister for Foreign Affairs
• For the Kingdom of Thailand:
  NITYA PIBULSONGGRAM
  
  Minister of Foreign Affairs
• For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam:
  LE CONG PHUNG
  
  First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs