Ex-Thai FM: ASEAN needs to bolster civic participation

BANGKOK, January 14 (TNA) - Former Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai has underscored significance in bolstering civic participation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as the 10-member bloc is forming a single community by 2015. Speaking in his keynote speech at a special conference in Bangkok on Friday, Dr. Surakiart Sathirathai emphasized that ASEAN needs to work on building a more unified voice to respond to global developments and to boost its roles and stature in the world community. Dr. Surakiart also called on ASEAN governments to join forces in creating a greater sense of the single community within the region by connecting people and youths with their administrations under the three pillars of cooperation. The former Thai foreign minister noted that ASEAN’s democratic development and flexible structure will, on the other hand, become a baseline for its greater cooperation with the world, suggesting that ASEAN look forward to engaging all world major powers to most enjoy regional benefits. According to the former Thai foreign minister, ASEAN is a fast-growing regional economy with a combined population of about 600 million, apparently being capable of counter-balancing growth in the immense Indian and Chinese economies and of convincing both the powerful US and the Chinese economies to continue working with ASEAN in all areas in the long run. (TNA)