A Police officer rides his motorbike past an ASEAN 2023 logo in Jakarta, Indonesia Sept 1, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

JAKARTA – The 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit concluded here on Thursday with a series of outcomes despite rising uncertainties globally.

"Within three days, 12 summits have been held, resulting in 90 outcome documents and a number of concrete agreements with partners," Indonesian President Joko Widodo said while addressing the closing ceremony of the summit.

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"ASEAN's big duties will not finish in only one chairmanship. We will continue to face the complexity of global challenges," the president said.

We must hand in hand navigate the challenges to be opportunities, navigate the rivalries to be collaborations, navigate exclusivity to be inclusivity and navigate differences to be unity.

Joko Widodo, President, Indonesia 

Indonesia handed over the ASEAN chairmanship for 2024 to Laos at the closing ceremony.

"We must hand in hand navigate the challenges to be opportunities, navigate the rivalries to be collaborations, navigate exclusivity to be inclusivity and navigate differences to be unity," Widodo said.

During the summit, ASEAN members reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen ASEAN as an organization that is robust and agile, equipped with strengthened capacity and institutional effectiveness.

Numerous documents have been adopted at the summit, including the ASEAN Concord IV and ASEAN Leaders' Declaration on ASEAN as Epicentrum of Growth.

The summit under Indonesia's ASEAN chairmanship this year is themed "ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth."

The ASEAN Concord IV consolidates the bloc's continued efforts to ensure that ASEAN matters for the region and its people, and remains an epicenter of growth in the region and beyond.

ASEAN countries have vowed to further encourage their partners to engage in practical and tangible cooperation with the bloc in the four key areas of maritime cooperation, connectivity, UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030, and economy.

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ASEAN welcomed the establishment of the ASEAN Local Currency Transaction Task Force and the completion of the Roadmap on Regional Payment Connectivity for ASEAN, according to the statement.

ASEAN countries also noted the importance of sustainable tourism as a catalyst for environmental conservation and economic growth.

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The bloc members also agreed that the Philippines shall assume the ASEAN chairmanship in 2026, the statement said.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

With Reuters inputs