AIPO members call for anticrime measures

AIPO members call for anticrime measures

BANGKOK (AFP): Southeast Asian parliamentarians wrapped up a meeting in the Thai capital with a call for ASEAN countries to fight transnational crime and introduce reforms to boost economic growth.

Some 250 lawmakers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) outlined problems facing the region in a joint statement after this week's general assembly of the ASEAN Inter- Parliamentary Organization (AIPO).

"The assembly expressed concern that the proliferation of transnational crime ... could have potentially serious impact on regional peace and stability," it said.

"(It) therefore calls on ASEAN member countries to strengthen cooperation to combat these new security threats," the delegates said, noting that various forms of trafficking, money laundering and illegal migration were of concern.

The group also took aim at corruption "as a scourge that requires intensified efforts at the national and regional levels," urging member countries to push ahead with anti- corruption legislation.

The assembly mulled the "negative impact of globalization" and the 1997-98 economic crisis in particular, saying regional governments had to deal with political, economic and legal shortcomings that had made them vulnerable.

Delegates at the meeting encouraged their constituents to quickly lift trade "tariff and non-tariff barriers" to create an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) that would make Southeast Asia a globally competitive region.

They also deployed a task force to consider a proposal for an "ASEAN University" that would boost cooperation among universities in the region.

"The emerging consensus is there would be no single campus," said Philippines House of Representatives speaker Jose de Venecia. "For example, a campus in Manila would have a specialty in liberal arts, in Singapore it would be information technology."

Also at the meeting, the committee agreed to follow up a proposal by Malaysia to set up a group to examine choking haze while another team will tackle regional drug issues, including crop substitution programs.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra opened the meeting Monday with a call for regional governments to be "more united and sincere" in tackling their common problems.