The deadline for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) community building has been decided at the 21st ASEAN Summit on Sunday.

During the plenary session of the summit, ASEAN leaders set Dec. 31, 2015 as the deadline for ASEAN Community Building, a task that started in early 1990's.

Sunday's meeting also endorsed the new secretary-general for the five-year period from 2013 until 2017.

At the plenary session, the leaders also expressed their appreciation of Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, who will complete his term as secretary-general of ASEAN next month.

Noting his valuable contribution to raising ASEAN's global profile, the leaders thanked him for his tireless efforts in promoting ASEAN, and drawing support for many of ASEAN's initiatives and projects. The leaders also confirmed, and welcomed Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh, as the next secretary-general of ASEAN. Minh is reportedly to be highly qualified and comes with extensive diplomatic experience at a global level. The incoming secretary-general has spent 14 years working at the United Nations, including seven years as Viet Nam's permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, and New York City in the United States. The 60-year-old served as president of the UN's most powerful body, the Security Council, twice -- first in July 2008 and again in October 2009 -- when Viet Nam held a non-permanent seat on the Security Council. Meanwhile, Malaysia will have the responsibility of taking forward the ASEAN community agenda, and organizing the celebrations, as the membership heads to the 2015 deadline under Kuala Lumpur's chairmanship. In addition, the 21st ASEAN summit also saw the launch of an anti-mine action program aimed at assisting landmine victims in the region. Endi

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