(VOVworld)- Leaders from 10 Southeast Asian countries on Nov 22 formally declared the establishment of a single community and unveiled a blueprint for greater integration over the next 10 years.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and other leaders of ASEAN countries marked the milestone with the signing of the "2015 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Community" and the "Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together," which took place on the sidelines of their two-day summit meeting that began on Saturday. The ASEAN Community 2015 to be established at the end of this year entails closer integration through three pillars -- politics-security, economics, and socio-culture -- based on the 2009-2015 road map that laid out actions for members to undertake. The "Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2025" is a broadly worded statement that lays out the ideals of a community in the next 10 years. The decision to establish the ASEAN Community reflects ASEAN countries’ efforts to overcome all barriers and differences to achieve a common perception and unity to build a united Community in diversity and their determination to boost regional connectivity to cope with and adapt to opportunities and challenges in the region. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak said the establishment of the ASEAN Community is a major historical progress of ASEAN. ASEAN has become a politically united, economically connected and social responsibility sharing community creating a firm foundation for the organization to increase its internal connectivity and improve its capacity in coping with numerous challenges in maintaining peace, security, stability in the East Sea, environment, natural disasters, catastrophes, and terrorism.