ASEAN Launches Communication Master Plan

Nay Pyi Taw – As ASEAN moves towards the realisation of the ASEAN Community in 2015, its Foreign Ministers yesterday launched the ASEAN Communication Master Plan (ACMP) before high-level officials gathered in the Myanmar capital for the ASEAN Summit today. The ACMP provides ASEAN stakeholders with a framework to communicate about the opportunities offered by the ASEAN Community within the region and globally.

With the theme of “ASEAN: A Community of Opportunities,” the ACMP will guide ASEAN Member States and other stakeholders in communicating clearly the character, structure, and overall vision of ASEAN and the ASEAN Community to key audiences, including local communities, youth, women and children, governments, businesses, Civil Society Organisations, influencers, media and global audiences.

In his speech, the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Le Luong Minh highlighted that “the peoples of ASEAN need to understand what it means to be part of an integrated region where there are shared, equitable opportunities for personal, business, and community growth.” SG Minh further emphasised the importance of ASEAN to be able to speak to its internal and external stakeholders with clear messages, and with one voice, using traditional and non-traditional means of communication. The ASEAN Communication Master Plan will guide this, he said.

A short video was shown at the launching event highlighting the essence of the ACMP with representatives of each of the audiences the ACMP targets from all ten ASEAN Member States. According to Secretary-General Minh, the ACMP is not grounded in a single moment in time, but is “designed to be a living plan that conveys the message that ASEAN is a Community of Opportunities for all.”

The ACMP was developed with support from the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).