The Third Informal ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit ended in Manila late Sunday afternoon with ASEAN leaders committing themselves to promoting regional cooperation and economic integration.

At the one-day summit, leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations agreed to strengthen their cooperation in information technology, e-commerce, industry, agriculture and tourism.

The leaders said they will continue their countries' structural reform and strengthen cooperation to sustain the region's economic growth and guard against the recurrence of economic crises in East Asia.

In a landmark decision, the member countries committed themselves to eliminating all import duties by 2010, ahead of the original schedule, for the six original members of ASEAN --Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam.

They also agreed in principle to advance the schedule from 2018 to 2015 for the new members, but allowed some sensitive products to follow the original date of 2018.

On the social issues, the leaders stressed the need to address the impact of the crisis, alleviate poverty and solve other social issues affecting the elderly, women, children and other disadvantaged sectors.

In the political and security areas, the leaders agreed to continue dialogue, coordination and cooperation to increase mutual understanding and trust toward forging lasting peace and stability in East Asia.

As regards the future direction of ASEAN, the leaders emphasized the importance of making efforts to prepare ASEAN for the challenges of globalization and promote extra-ASEAN relations.

At the summit, the leaders stressed the need for a more rapid World Trade Organization accession process for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

During the meeting, ASEAN leaders gave their seal of approval to an initiative for fast-tracking the development of the ASEAN information infrastructure (AII) at the conclusion of their closed-door session with the private IT sector tasked with studying the challenge.

Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Roberto Romulo, who led the private IT sector group for a 45-minute meeting with the ASEAN leaders, said the leaders gave high priority to the creation of the AII.

"They recognize that information technology is the key to success of ASEAN in the 21st century," Romulo told the media after the ASEAN-IT dialogue.

During the dialogue, representatives from the world's leading IT companies presented a white paper which surveyed the state and prospects of IT in Southeast Asia and outlined a plan on how the public and private sectors can work together in building the AII, also dubbed the ASEAN Millennium Initiative.

Philippine President Joseph Estrada said at the opening ceremony of the summit that the meeting will bridge the past and the future as the leaders will discuss political, economic, social and security issues facing the group.

President Estrada said the summit is a bridge which will "help link the two sides of three divides, namely, those of the past and the future, of experience and vision, and of promise and fulfillment."

According to the president, the major experience ASEAN has learned from the past is that "cooperation among the member countries must be comprehensive."

"Greater economic cooperation should lead to and accompany deeper and broader cooperation on matters of peace and security," he stressed.

To transform ASEAN into a true community of Southeast Asian nations, Estrada said, more openness is needed among ASEAN members as well as between ASEAN and its Asian neighbors.

Estrada said the considerable resources and assistance committed by Japan and China have helped contain the Asian financial crisis, mitigate its adverse impacts and facilitate economic recovery in the region.

He urged all ASEAN leaders to work harder to realize the dream of "an East Asian common market. One East Asian currency. And one East Asian community -- a family from happy union of the north and south."

Except for Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, who is unable to attend the summit because of his nation's election, heads of state or government of all member countries were present at the meeting.

The Philippines is the third ASEAN country to host the ASEAN Informal Summit. The first informal summit was held in Jakarta on November 30, 1996, and the second in Kuala Lumpur on December 15 and 16, 1997.

At the Fifth ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in 1995, ASEAN leaders agreed to meet informally every year between two formal summits, which are held every three years.

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