(VNA) - 21^st ASEAN Summit has concluded with leaders approving the Human Rights Declaration, the first ever important political document on human rights cooperation in the region.

At the summit on Sunday in Phnom Penh, they also adopted an action plan to implement the Bali Declaration on the “ASEAN Community in a Global Community of Nations” and officially launch the ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation. Earlier, ASEAN leaders held a closed meeting to discuss the bloc’s key issues. To the challenges facing the region, they emphasised the need to remain united and uphold the group’s central role when working on orientations to guide regional cooperation, and deal with the issues relating to the region’s common strategic interests, like peace, security and cooperation development. Regarding the region’s external relations, ASEAN leaders agreed on the need to further expand cooperation with its partners while bringing to full play its key role in promoting regional cooperation frameworks and progress, such as ASEAN Plus 1, ASEAN Plus 3, the East Asia Summit (EAS), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+). On this occasion, ASEAN leaders officially launched the start of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). They affirmed continued support for the Myanmar governments’ national reconciliation and the peaceful and non-nuclear Korean peninsula. On the East Sea issue, the leaders affirmed the importance of peace, stability and maritime security. They also laid stress on the peaceful resolution of disputes, and the observance of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, including the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conducts of Parties (DOC) in the East Sea, the ASEAN Six-point Principle on the East Sea and the early formation of the Code of Conducts of Parties in the East Sea. In terms of the Gaza Strip, the ASEAN countries called upon concerned parties to take actions to bring the violence to an end. ASEAN Plus 1 Summits between ASEAN its partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India and the US, the ASEAN Plus 3 Summit and the EAS begin from Monday.