JAKARTA – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations announced Wednesday it has revamped the structure of its secretariat as part of its bid to form an EU-style community by 2015.
The restructuring will see the Jakarta-based secretariat divided into four separate departments covering economic, political and security, community and corporate, and social-cultural affairs, a media statement said.
The move, overseen by Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan, is aimed at creating “the nerve-centre of a strong and confident ASEAN Community” by 2015, it said.
ASEAN member states last year ratified a new charter for the grouping transforming it into a legal entity, setting the state for the creation of a single free trade area for the region’s 500 million people.
The charter is aimed at giving ASEAN, often dismissed as a talking-shop, greater clout in international negotiations, but critics argue that some member states will continue to get away with gross human rights abuses.
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.–Agence France-Presse
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
