KUALA LUMPUR — Even as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is on the cusp of being declared an integrated community on Dec 31, there is still outstanding work to be done by the grouping, especially on the economic front and tackling common security challenges, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said this morning (Nov 21).

“As ASEAN become more integrated, we are bound to tackle some of the difficulties in our relationships. How we will deal with them will define the ASEAN Community,” said Mr Lee at the 27th ASEAN Summit plenary session in Kuala Lumpur.

He cited the need for ASEAN to forge closer economic ties as an example, including the implementation of the remaining 20 per cent of action lines in the existing ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint (such as those related to services liberalisation) and ratifying the ASEAN Open Skies agreement.

He noted that negotiations are also underway to conclude a “high quality” Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP). The 16-nation RCEP comprises all 10 ASEAN member states plus six others — China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. If concluded, it will cover 45 per cent of the world’s population and about a third of the world’s current Gross Domestic Product. A joint statement on the RCEP negotiations is expected to be issued by the ASEAN leaders tomorrow.

Also speaking during the plenary session, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak noted that under Malaysia’s chairmanship, ASEAN has been successful in terms of establishing the ASEAN Community by Dec 31 and charting a post-2015 regional vision.

“We wish for ASEAN to be an even more powerful vehicle for the realisation of our peoples’ aspirations – good governance, transparency, higher standards of living, sustainable development, further empowerment of women and greater opportunity for all.”

ASEAN leaders are expected to sign two milestone agreements tomorrow on the “2015 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Community and the Kuala Lumpur Declaration for ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together”.

During the ASEAN Summit Opening Ceremony earlier in the day, Mr Najib lauded the decades of hard work by all member states, working together and overcoming differences.

“We maintained high ambitions we set for ourselves in the three community blueprints – economic, political-security and socio-cultural… Our growth has been noting but impressive and ASEAN is increasingly seen not only as integral to the global economic and security architecture, but also as a region of tremendous opportunity,” he said.

During the plenary session, Mr Lee also listed several common security challenges that ASEAN has to tackle. First, the recent attacks in Paris, Ankara Beirut and Mali have reminded ASEAN that the terrorist threat is near.

“South-east Asia is a key recruiting ground for the Islamic State. In fact, there are enough foreign fighters from Southeast Asia with the militants to form a battalion by themselves, called the Katibah Nusantara, and to prepare publicity material in Bahasa in order to try to recruit more fighters from our part of the world,” he highlighted, adding that Singapore has arrested more than a dozen people who wanted to go to Syria to fight for the jihadists.

In this regard, Mr Lee said that ASEAN should enhance cooperation and information sharing among its security and intelligence agencies and continue to share best practices on countering terrorist ideology.

Mr Najib also touched on the recent terror attacks in Paris and Beirut which killed 170 people as well as the taking of 224 lives in the bombing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt.

“The perpetrators of these barbaric acts do not represent any race, religion or creed, nor should we allow them to claim to do so. They are terrorists and should be confronted as such, with the full force of the law,” said Mr Najib during the opening ceremony.

Mr Lee added that the transboundary haze problem has been especially severe this year, affecting six ASEAN member states.

The ASEAN Environment Ministers have targeted for a haze-free ASEAN by 2020. To do so, the bloc should “institutionalise the activation of international assistance to combat forest fires during the dry season,” he said.

“This will help all Parties to fulfil their obligations under the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, and generate positive momentum towards the negotiations of a new (post-2020) global climate agreement at COP-21 (Conference of Parties-21) in Paris (next month).”

“It is vital that we deepen cooperation and share information to bring errant companies to account for their irresponsible and unsustainable practices that are the root cause of land and forest fires causing haze pollution,” he added.

PM Lee also noted that the situation in the South China Sea has “become a test of ASEAN unity and effectiveness.”

China has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion (S$7.1 trillion) in shipborne trade passes every year. Beijing has created artificial islands in the disputed waters by reclamation, sparking fears of militarisation and what some believe to be threatening of freedom of navigation in the region.

“We should reaffirm our commitment to the important principle of upholding freedom of navigation and over-flight in the South China Sea. Miscalculations at sea could escalate into conflicts that will undermine regional peace and stability,” Mr Lee said, adding that faster progress must be made on a binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

As the current coordinator for ASEAN-China dialogue relations, Mr Lee said that Singapore will be “transparent and objective” in the discussions.