By Danial Dzulkifly
KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Asean members today reaffirmed their collective commitment to the bloc’s long-term goals under the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Asean Community Vision 2045, amid rising geopolitical tensions and the shifting global order.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the declaration marks not only a strategic milestone, but a renewed pledge to advance peace, inclusion and sustainable development.
“In 1967, our founding members pledged to bind themselves together in friendship and cooperation.
“Today, we renew that solemn promise, not as a tribute to the past, but as a living covenant with the future,” he said to the heads of state and delegates who attended the 46th Asean Summit held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here.
Also present was Timor Leste Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, whose country is seeking a full Asean membership by year end.
The new blueprint, Asean 2045: Our Shared Future, outlines the regional bloc’s ambitions for the next two decades and follows the trajectory set by the Asean Community Vision 2015, launched in Kuala Lumpur 10 years ago.
The previous vision sought to forge a deeply integrated community built on three pillars: political-security cohesion, economic integration, and socio-cultural unity.
[caption id="attachment_402267" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim delivers opening remarks at the Asean Leaders’ Interface at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on May 26, 2025. — Picture via FACEBOOK/ANWAR IBRAHIM[/caption]
Anwar also cautioned that Asean’s stabilising role now faces heightened external pressures, including unilateral trade actions such recent tariff hikes by the United States.
“Today, the international order is increasingly unsettled. Geopolitical tensions, economic fragmentation, environmental challenges, and technological disruption are testing the bonds between nations,” he said.
He warned that without proper governance, emerging technologies also risk widening inequality, displacing livelihoods, and outpacing regulatory systems.
Anwar also called on the regional bloc to harness innovation responsibly and prioritise people-centred growth, grounded in sustainability and shared prosperity.
“This shared blueprint gives shape to that belief, a vision anchored in realism, animated by resolve, and made possible by trust,” he said.
Earlier today, in his opening address at the 46th Asean Summit plenary session, Anwar warned the world is entering a turbulent phase, where the rules-based international system is being dismantled by “arbitrary and unilateral” actions.
“Protectionism is resurging as we bear witness to multilateralism breaking apart at the seams,” he said, citing the imposition of US tariffs as a signal of growing strain on the global trading system.
To remediate and mitigate the impact of the tariffs, Anwar said he had written to the US President Donald Trump seeking a meeting between Asean and the US.
“I have taken the liberty of writing to president Donald Trump to seek his understanding and support in organising a US-Asean meeting, which reflects our serious commitment to the principle of centrality,” Anwar added.
