US-ABC Supports PARTNER with ASEAN Act

(Washington, DC) - The US-ASEAN Business Council strongly supports the PARTNER with ASEAN Act of 2022, a bipartisan piece of legislation meant to affirm the U.S. relationship with ASEAN. This legislation will elevate the formal status of ASEAN by extending diplomatic privileges and immunities to ASEAN under the International Organizations Immunity Act (IOIA). ​ 

“High-level government exchanges are vital to developing a healthy relationship,” said Ambassador Ted Osius, President & CEO of the Council. “The PARTNER with ASEAN Act will facilitate an increase in visits from ASEAN leaders to the United States, which will help strengthen and reaffirm ASEAN’s centrality in U.S. foreign policy.” 

The PARTNER for ASEAN Act represents an opportunity to acknowledge the importance of ASEAN to the United States. In order to advance the U.S.-ASEAN relationship, it is critical that ASEAN leaders be extended the same rights as other leaders from other international organizations. This legislation puts ASEAN on the same level as other such organizations, like the European Union, thereby affirming ASEAN’s centrality to the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. 

The legislation is more important than ever as the United States actively pursues the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and hosts the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summits for 2023. IPEF, in particular, will benefit from this legislation given that seven of the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are party to the negotiations: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

“Trade and economic relations are the first of three pillars on which U.S.-ASEAN relations are built,” Ambassador Osius added. “IPEF will bolster U.S. economic engagement with Asia’s fastest growing region. In addition to pursuing IPEF, we hope the Biden-Harris administration will continue to engage ASEAN proactively in ways that strengthen economic ties.”