Asia Cooperation Dialogue

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The Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) was inaugurated in June 2002 to provide a continent-wide forum, the first of its kind in Asia. More specifically, the ACD aims to constitute the missing link in Asia by incorporating every Asian country and building an Asian Community without duplicating other organizations or creating a bloc against others. A key principle is to consolidate Asian strengths and fortify Asia's competitiveness by maximizing the diversity and rich resources evident in Asia. The core values of the ACD are positive thinking; informality; voluntarism; non-institutionalization; openness; respect for diversity; the comfort level of member countries; and the evolving nature of the ACD process.

Asia e University (AeU) is an initiative by Malaysia, as the ACD prime mover for e-education. On the recommendations of the 2004 Kuala Lumpur’s ACD e-Education Workshop and the Islamabad Declaration 2005 following the 4th ACD’s Ministerial Meeting in Pakistan, Malaysia has taken the initiative to establish Asia e University (AeU) with the support of the 26 ACD member countries. AeU is to be an international university set in Asia, by Asians for Asia.

4th ACD Ministerial Meeting at Pakistan, 6 April 2005

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the 26 member countries accepted the proposal on the formation of AeU and reaffirmed their countries’ commitment with the following declaration:

Declaration No. 6: Resolve to ensure the provision of easily accessible and expanded educational opportunities for the peoples of Asia with the proposal for the establishment of an Asia e University (AeU) which will be an instrument for greater Asia-wide cooperation in closing the digital divide and spearheading e-Education efforts to meet future challenges, for the benefit of the region. (6th April 2005, Islamabad, Pakistan)

5th ACD Ministerial Meeting, Qatar, 23-24 May 2006

Representatives of the 28 ACD governments unanimously accepted Malaysia’s proposal to implement the proposed AeU and this was reflected in the Doha ACD Declaration 1.5:

Declaration No. 1.5: We agree to support the successful implementation of Asia e University (AeU) as an instrument for human capacity building, closing the digital divide, increasing higher education accessibility, and spearheading e-Education efforts for the benefit of all member countries.