Ceremony for the Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Programme (SEARP) (Summary)

On May 2, from 12:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. Japan time) for approximately 40 minutes, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, the Prime Minister of Japan, Ms. KAMIKAWA Yoko, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. SHINDO Yoshitaka, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy and Mr. MORIYA Hiroshi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary who were attending the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM), participated in the Ceremony for the Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Program (SEARP) in the presence of Ministers from Southeast Asian countries and the Secretary-General of ASEAN. The overview is as follows (speech transcript attached). 

1. At the beginning of the ceremony, Prime Minister Kishida made the followingremarks under the theme of "Co-Creation of a Sustainable Future".
(1) SEARP was launched at the 2014 MCM and has made remarkable progress over the past decade. In this milestone year, I sincerely welcome the adoption of the accession roadmap for Indonesia and the application for membership by Thailand.
(2) Japan is launching the “Japan OECD-ASEAN Partnership Program (JOAPP)” to harness the OECD’s strengths in reliable data and analysis for sustainable growth in Southeast Asia. Over the next three years, we plan to mobilize around 8 million euros (about 1.4 billion yen) to implement projects focused on private investment, connectivity, sustainability, and digital areas. These projects will involve dispatching OECD experts, conducting research and analyses as well as training.
(3) As part of this initiative, we are also establishing a cooperation frameworkbetween JICA and the OECD to further promote OECD standards throughdevelopment cooperation. We will further enhance the operational strength ofSEARP over the next decade and collaborate in co-creating a sustainablefuture.

2. Mr. Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the OECD, expressed hisappreciation for Japan's strong commitment and support to the Organisation's outreach activities to Southeast Asia. He stated that through SEARP, the OECD aims to deepen its ties with Southeast Asia and collaborate with Japan on expanding the membership in the region.

3. Ministers and other participants from Southeast Asian countries expressed their appreciation for Japan's initiative, as this year's MCM chair, to strengthen the relationship between the OECD and Southeast Asia, and their willingness to continue to achieve further economic growth, by leveraging the OECD’s knowledge and expertise.