Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA News) - Japan and ASEAN have agreed to issue a new joint declaration on cooperation to strengthen connectivity among ASEAN member countries and disaster management in the region, a Japanese official said.

The joint declaration would be issued in the ASEAN-Japan Summit on Friday (Nov 18), the Japanese foreign ministry`s Deputy Director General of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Kimihiro Ishikane told the press here on Wednesday.

The ASEAN-Japan summit is more significant because of the new joint declaration after the Tokyo meeting in 2003, he said on the sidelines of a series of meetings being held ahead of the 19th ASEAN Summit.

The joint declaration would be followed by a number of action plans on concrete cooperation to support the strengthening of the ASEAN connectivity and disaster management, the Japanese senior diplomat said.

Some projects on maritime economic corridor and infrastructures would bee agreed upon and Japan would support the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center), as well as the ASEAN Disaster Management Network Initiative, he said.

He added that there would also be relief aid for ASEAN member countries which have been affected by floods, such as Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by a magnitude-9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami which killed 15,782 people, and rendered 4,086 others missing.

The ASEAN-Japan Summit is part of the 19th ASEAN Summit and related summits being held here from November 13 to 19, 2011.

The ASEAN Summit and the Sixth East Asian Summit will be participated in by leaders of 18 countries consisting of 10 ASEAN member countries and eight dialog partners, namely China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.(*)
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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