ASEAN adopts 2045 vision, enters new chapter of integration

2 days ago

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2 days ago

by HIDAYATH HISHAM

ASEAN has entered a defining chapter in its regional integration journey with the adoption of ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future, a long-term vision focused on sustainability, inclusion and resilience.

Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (picture) said the new framework renews ASEAN’s founding promise not only as a tribute to its past, but as a living commitment to its future.

“Today, ASEAN marks a defining chapter in its journey of regional integration with the adoption of ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future,” he said at the signing ceremony of the Kuala Lumpur Declaration during the 46th ASEAN Summit on May 26.

Anwar said ASEAN must prepare to lead in key areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), digital innovation, and green and blue economies, while ensuring that technological progress does not outpace governance or deepen inequality.

“We must not only embrace innovation — we must learn to govern it, together, and with care,” he said.

The new vision, he said, must be grounded in sustainable development and genuinely people-centred policies — including efforts to close development gaps and raise standards of living across the region.

Anwar described the document as a shared blueprint shaped by pragmatism, trust and regional resolve.

“This shared blueprint gives shape to that belief. It is a vision anchored in realism, animated by resolve and made possible by trust,” he said.

He called on ASEAN leaders to move forward with clarity, purpose and unity, reaffirming their commitment to future generations.

“Let us move forward — with clarity in our vision, steadiness in our purpose and unity in our will — to build the ASEAN we owe to the future generations,” he added.