The Foundation has been awarded funding by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany for the project ‘ASEAN: Progressing Regional Cooperation in Developing & Implementing Law of the Sea Instruments.‘
The project aims to enhance regional cooperation in both the development and implementation of law of the sea instruments, with a view to supporting ASEAN’s vision of a peaceful, secure, and sustainable maritime domain. More broadly, the initiative contributes to ASEAN’s objectives for regional stability, cooperation, and prosperity, as set out in its policy framework ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future. Likewise, the project is in line with both the ASEAN-Germany Development Partnership: Practical Cooperation Areas (2023 – 2027), as well as Germany’s Indo-Pacific Guidelines.
The project will focus on four priority areas that reflect pressing legal and practical challenges in the region:
- Combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing
- Protecting submarine cables and pipelines
- Enhancing negotiation skills for the development of ocean governance instruments
- Supporting the full integration of Timor-Leste into ASEAN
In addition to the engagement and support of the ASEAN Community, the Foundation will conduct several subregional and bilateral exchanges aimed at further strengthening the law of the sea framework in Southeast Asia concerning targeted areas of priority to partners. The project will run until the end of 2028.