ASEAN lobbies for India and Myanmar in ARF<\/p>\n
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Indonesia, on behalf of the seven states of
\nthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is lobbying
\nfor the admission of India and Myanmar to the ASEAN Regional
\nForum (ARF), while leaving other applications pending.<\/p>\n
The head of the ASEAN senior officials meeting, Izhar Ibrahim,
\nsaid yesterday that he had met a number of non-ASEAN members of
\nthe ARF to seek out their views on India and Myanmar's
\nmembership.<\/p>\n
\"In this case, the chairman is conducting consultations with
\nARF members,\" said Izhar who is the Indonesian Foreign Ministry's
\ndirector general of political affairs.<\/p>\n
Izhar had just concluded chairing a three-day meeting of ASEAN
\nsenior officials. The meeting will be followed-up today with a
\ntwo-day ARF senior officials meeting.<\/p>\n
ASEAN is a regional forum comprising Brunei, Indonesia,
\nMalaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
In order to promote regional security, the association
\nestablished the ARF three-years ago as a multilateral
\nconsultative forum. Non-ASEAN members of the forum are Australia,
\nCambodia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, Laos, New
\nZealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Korea and the United
\nStates.<\/p>\n
The third ARF meeting will be held in Jakarta in July.<\/p>\n
As the ARF has grown increasingly prestigious a number of
\ncountries such as India, Myanmar, Britain and France have applied
\nfor membership.<\/p>\n
Given the growing number of applicants, officials are
\ncurrently working on a criteria for new membership.<\/p>\n
Izhar yesterday rejected suggestions that India and Myanmar
\nwere being given special treatment while other applicants had to
\nwait for the drafting of membership criteria.<\/p>\n
\"That's not special treatment. In the past the criteria was to
\ninclude those countries who were associated with ASEAN,\" he said,
\nreferring to the organization's dialog partners, consultative
\npartners and observers.<\/p>\n
India was approved in December as a full-dialog partner while
\nMyanmar is a prospective member of ASEAN.<\/p>\n
According to Izhar, there is a good chance that other ARF
\nmembers will agree to include these two countries.<\/p>\n
\"There are indications that a consensus will likely be
\nachieved. But I can't say that it is definite yet,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Separately, several ASEAN delegates also expressed confidence
\nthat most ARF members would probably give \"positive responses\" to
\nIndia and Myanmar.<\/p>\n
They added that the criteria being drafted for future
\nadmission would be supported during the ARF meeting.<\/p>\n
Delegates would not reveal the criteria but hinted that it
\nshould not depend on regional proximity but focus on letting in
\nthose countries who have a direct influence on regional security.<\/p>\n
Izhar only said that it would be important to maintain the ARF
\nmembership to a \"manageable size\".<\/p>\n
On the logistical preparations for the ARF meeting in July,
\ndelegates revealed that the issue of the European Commissioner's
\nattendance was discussed in the just-concluded meeting.<\/p>\n
It was proposed that the European Union, which has two seats
\nat the ARF, should be given both seats in the front of the
\nmeeting only if the European Commissioner himself attended.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asean-lobbies-for-india-and-myanmar-in-arf-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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