ID :
13317
Tue, 07/22/2008 - 11:54
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http://m.oananews.org//node/13317
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ASEAN ministers end talks, commit to forge stronger bloc
SINGAPORE, July 22 Kyodo - Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ended their annual meeting Friday on a note of optimism that the 10-member regional bloc will become stronger than it is now.
''We reaffirmed our common desire and collective commitment to the establishment of an ASEAN Community of peace, stability and prosperity and social progress,'' the ministers said in a joint communique issued at the end of the one-day meeting.
The meeting will be followed by other meetings over the next few days with key partners from outside the region, including the United States, China and Japan.
The ministers were upbeat that all 10 members will be able to get on board the ASEAN Charter, which aims to transform ASEAN into a more rules-based organization, by ratifying it by the time of the ASEAN leaders' summit in Bangkok at the end of this year.
So far, only seven ASEAN countries have ratified the charter, including Myanmar, which submitted the ratification documents on Monday. Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines have yet to ratify it.
The charter aims to transform the grouping into a more legal and binding entity as the first step to create an ASEAN Community by 2015.
This year's meeting took place amid political uncertainties in some member countries and a territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia that threatens to erupt into armed conflict. It also comes at a time when ASEAN, like the rest of the world, is feeling the pinch from the global food and energy crisis, and rising inflation.
According to the communique, the ministers dealt not only with their grand plans for an ASEAN Charter and the progress of their blueprints for achieving an ASEAN Community by 2015 but also tackled a host of other issues ranging from food and energy security and disaster management to fellow-member Myanmar's lack of democracy and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The communique said, ''While ASEAN members may be preoccupied with pressing domestic issues, it was vital that we continue to move forward on ASEAN cooperation and integration even if the pace may vary sometimes.''''A thriving ASEAN would be courted by the major powers as an economic power and valued as a partner for cooperation to deal with larger regional and global issues,'' it said.
Earlier in the day, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned that Asian nations could end up being sidelined in the region as Japan, China and South Korea improve their relations and pursue their own initiatives without ASEAN involvement.
Lee, speaking at the opening of the meeting, said the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea are planning to hold a trilateral summit in Japan this September, which will be ''the first outside an ASEAN setting.''''ASEAN cannot take its continued relevance for granted. If our efforts to achieve faster and deeper integration falter, ASEAN may well be sidelined,'' Lee said.
As part of the charter's goals, it has already set up a panel to study the establishment of a human rights body so as to brush up its human rights image in the eyes of the world and another panel to study the establishment of a dispute settlement mechanism to resolve any misunderstandings on agreements signed among member states.
On Tuesday, the ASEAN ministers will meet with their counterparts from Japan, China and South Korea in the ASEAN-plus-three foreign ministerial talks and also attend the first meeting of foreign ministers of the 16-nation East Asia Summit.
On Wednesday, the ASEAN ministers will have separate meetings with their counterparts from 10 key partners, including U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, before the week's series of meetings culminates with the gathering of foreign ministers from the 27-member ASEAN Regional Forum, a loose multilateral security forum, on Thursday.
North Korea will accede to ASEAN's nonaggression treaty, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, at a small signing ceremony on Thursday, becoming the 15th country from outside the region to do so.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
''We reaffirmed our common desire and collective commitment to the establishment of an ASEAN Community of peace, stability and prosperity and social progress,'' the ministers said in a joint communique issued at the end of the one-day meeting.
The meeting will be followed by other meetings over the next few days with key partners from outside the region, including the United States, China and Japan.
The ministers were upbeat that all 10 members will be able to get on board the ASEAN Charter, which aims to transform ASEAN into a more rules-based organization, by ratifying it by the time of the ASEAN leaders' summit in Bangkok at the end of this year.
So far, only seven ASEAN countries have ratified the charter, including Myanmar, which submitted the ratification documents on Monday. Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines have yet to ratify it.
The charter aims to transform the grouping into a more legal and binding entity as the first step to create an ASEAN Community by 2015.
This year's meeting took place amid political uncertainties in some member countries and a territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia that threatens to erupt into armed conflict. It also comes at a time when ASEAN, like the rest of the world, is feeling the pinch from the global food and energy crisis, and rising inflation.
According to the communique, the ministers dealt not only with their grand plans for an ASEAN Charter and the progress of their blueprints for achieving an ASEAN Community by 2015 but also tackled a host of other issues ranging from food and energy security and disaster management to fellow-member Myanmar's lack of democracy and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The communique said, ''While ASEAN members may be preoccupied with pressing domestic issues, it was vital that we continue to move forward on ASEAN cooperation and integration even if the pace may vary sometimes.''''A thriving ASEAN would be courted by the major powers as an economic power and valued as a partner for cooperation to deal with larger regional and global issues,'' it said.
Earlier in the day, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned that Asian nations could end up being sidelined in the region as Japan, China and South Korea improve their relations and pursue their own initiatives without ASEAN involvement.
Lee, speaking at the opening of the meeting, said the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea are planning to hold a trilateral summit in Japan this September, which will be ''the first outside an ASEAN setting.''''ASEAN cannot take its continued relevance for granted. If our efforts to achieve faster and deeper integration falter, ASEAN may well be sidelined,'' Lee said.
As part of the charter's goals, it has already set up a panel to study the establishment of a human rights body so as to brush up its human rights image in the eyes of the world and another panel to study the establishment of a dispute settlement mechanism to resolve any misunderstandings on agreements signed among member states.
On Tuesday, the ASEAN ministers will meet with their counterparts from Japan, China and South Korea in the ASEAN-plus-three foreign ministerial talks and also attend the first meeting of foreign ministers of the 16-nation East Asia Summit.
On Wednesday, the ASEAN ministers will have separate meetings with their counterparts from 10 key partners, including U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, before the week's series of meetings culminates with the gathering of foreign ministers from the 27-member ASEAN Regional Forum, a loose multilateral security forum, on Thursday.
North Korea will accede to ASEAN's nonaggression treaty, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, at a small signing ceremony on Thursday, becoming the 15th country from outside the region to do so.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
