BANGKOK — The enhanced connectivity cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is pivotal in the fight against poverty in the region, a senior Philippine official said in Bangkok on Nov 4.

Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez stressed the importance of enhanced connectivity with China in the fight against poverty, which is one of the most important development goals of ASEAN countries.

"And the way to put it out is to increase the prosperity of our peoples as well as engage in sustainable development. Enhancing the cooperation on the connectivity with our very large neighbor China is essential to achieving those goals," Dominguez told Xinhua on the sidelines of the ongoing ASEAN Summit and related meetings.

He said poverty reduction is always a major topic of ASEAN leaders in their meetings and their expanded meetings with ASEAN dialogue partners like China.

"How do you achieve poverty reduction? That is through increased connectivity and increased integration of our economies," Dominguez added.

He said agreements like the China-ASEAN Joint Statement on Synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025 are important to cooperation between the two sides, adding that this document will continually improve the cooperation in the connectivity field that will improve ASEAN people's standard of living and improve the possibility of sustainable development of ASEAN countries.

In a joint statement issued at the 22nd China-ASEAN summit in Bangkok on Nov 3, Chinese and ASEAN leaders said they agreed on a master plan on how to sustain the region's connectivity by 2025 and to dovetail development plans for regional connectivity.

The ASEAN leaders welcomed China's support for enhancing ASEAN connectivity through the implementation of the MPAC 2025 to strengthen physical, institutional, and people-to-people connectivity.

The statement added that ASEAN leaders also welcomed the continuous effort to promote synergies between MPAC 2025 and BRI and looked forward to the implementation of such cooperation in an open, inclusive, transparent and mutually beneficial manner.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.