The ASEAN Cocoa Club (ACC) was established in pursuant of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on ASEAN Cooperation and Joint Approaches in Agriculture and Forest Products Promotion Scheme which was signed by the ASEAN Ministers in Agriculture and Forestry at their 16th Meeting in Langkawi on 25 – 27 August 1994.

The ASEAN Cocoa Club was launched on July 1996 at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia involving all ASEAN countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Malaysia has been identified as the lead country or national coordinator for commodity covering oil palm and cocoa. The national coordinator has appointed Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) as the focal point for the ASEAN Cooperation and Joint Approaches on Cocoa Promotion Scheme.

The objectives of the ACC is to strengthen and enhance the Intra-ASEAN trade on cocoa and cocoa products to be in line with the objectives of the ASEAN Cooperation and Joint Approaches in Agriculture and Forest Products Promotion Scheme as follows:-

Strengthening the objective bargaining position of ASEAN on matters affecting agriculture and forest products trade in the world market;

Expand agriculture and forest products export through product diversification of downstream processing and higher value-added activity;

Continue upgrading the quality of ASEAN agriculture and forest products; and

Lay down the foundation for a bigger and closer economic ties between ASEAN member countries

The joint promotion of a product shall be undertaken and agreed up by a lead country whose selection shall be made on the basis of the expertise processed by the country. The lead country shall undertake to implement the most appropriate strategy to promote the product being assigned.

The Workplan 1996-1999 of the National Focal Point for ASEAN Cocoa Club (ACC) on ASEAN Cooperation and Joint Approaches in Agriculture and Forest Products Promotion Scheme had been formulated during the ACC Inaugural meeting held on July 2-3 1996 at Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

The second ACC Workplan 1999–2004 had been formulated based on the realigned strategic thrust for ASEAN Cooperation in Food, Agriculture and Forestry at the 4th ACC Meeting held on 6-7 October 1999 in Philippines.

At the 7th ACC Meeting held on 21-22 June 2005 in Indonesia, the ACC Workplan 2005-2010 was adopted based on the new Strategic Plan Action (SPA) in Agriculture and Forest Products Promotion Scheme (2005–2010) that was adopted by the 11th Meeting of the Joint Committee on ASEAN Cooperation in Agriculture and Forest Products Promotion Scheme held on 30 June - 2 July 2004 in Yangon.

The new Vientiane Action Programme (2005–2010) highlighted five (5) strategies of which four (4) strategic thrusts were identified of relevance to the cocoa industry: Strategic Thrust 2, 3, 4 and 5 as follows:-

Strategic Thrust 2: Enhancement of International Competitiveness of ASEAN Cocoa

Strategic Thrust 3: Enhancement of ASEAN Cooperation and Joint Approaches in International and Regional Issues

Strategic Thrust 4: Development, Acceleration of Transfer and Adoption of New Technologies

Strategic Thrust 5: Enhancement of Private Sector Involvement

The 13th ACC Meeting held on 23–24 June 2010 in Quezon City, the Philippines had formulated the new Strategic Plan of Action (SPA) for the ACC covering the period of 2011–2015.

The new ACC SPA is i n line with the new ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) (2009–2015) Blueprint and Scorecard being formulated to replace the Vientiane Action Programme (VAP) 2004–2010.

Under the new SAP, two (2) out of the three (3) AEC Measures are of relevance to the cocoa industry group as follows: –

Monitor implementation of CEPT–AFTA schemes for agricultural and forest products;

Establish Good Agriculture Practices (GAP), Good Hygiene Practices (GHP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) based systems; for agricultural and food products with significant trade / trade potential by 2012; and

Harmonise the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) of commonly used pesticides for widely traded crop products in accordance with international standards/guidelines, where applicable, by 2015.