Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian Minister ofLaw and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly has urged ASEAN nations to strengthen legalintegration in order to get their voices heard in the international community.

He said in a statement on April 14 that in orderfor this integration to be more stable, credible, and effective, a more bindinglegal basis is needed.

The integration of ASEAN laws means that membernations will need to harmonise their domestic laws and regulations, therebystrengthening the system and rule of law in the ASEAN region as a whole, heremarked.

Laoly said that the integration of the legalinstruments of ASEAN member countries presents its own challenges due to differencesin legal systems and practices in each country when it comes to adoptinginternational laws.

However, the legal cooperation between ASEANcountries, which has been initiated since the signing of a free trade agreementin 1992, shows that harmonisation is not impossible, he added.

Since the signing of the 1992 Agreement on theCommon Effective Preferential Tariff scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area,ASEAN member countries have collaborated to fight trans-national crime, moneylaundering, human trafficking, drug smuggling, and piracy.

The countries must also continue to strengthentheir legal and policy frameworks to manage the response to COVID-19, includingrecovery efforts, according to the minister./.