ASEAN breaks new ground
ASEAN breaks new ground
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
BANGKOK (JP): Though the adjective "historic" is ubiquitous in relation to high-level meetings, it aptly describes the fifth ASEAN Summit here.
Many "firsts" will occur at this meeting which will make it truly historic in every sense of the word.
This will mark the first time that Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet will join Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesia's President Soeharto, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Philippine President Fidel Ramos, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Thai Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-Archa at an ASEAN Summit meeting.
Vietnam became the seventh member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) earlier this year.
If Van Kiet is attending his first meeting of ASEAN leaders, then President Soeharto is the only leader to have attended all Summits of the regional grouping.
The first Summit was held in Bali in 1976, followed by Kuala Lumpur in 1977, Manila in 1987 and Singapore in 1992.
However, not only will this be a first for Vietnam, it will also be the first Summit in which ASEAN leaders will also meet with other non-member leaders of Southeast Asian states.
Cambodian joint Prime Ministers Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen, Laotian Prime Minister Khamtay Siphandone and Myanmarese Prime Minister Than Shwe will also hold discussions with ASEAN leaders on Friday.
Friday's meeting is seen by many here as the beginning of the final steps towards the "ASEAN-10", which would include all the countries of Southeast Asia. It was the dream of ASEAN's founding fathers 28 years ago.
Cambodia and Laos currently already have observer status in ASEAN.
Suvidya Simaskul, director general of information at the Thai foreign ministry, said that through dialog the 11 leaders are engaging in a process of confidence-building which is necessary to develop mutual trust towards the aspiration of a single Southeast Asia.
Discussions will see an exchange of regional and international perspectives both politically and economically.
One official told The Jakarta Post that the topic of further assistance to "CLM", the popular term for Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, is also to brought up to help accelerate economic and administrative reforms in order to forge compatible linkages between all 10 countries.
Also on Friday, leaders of ASEAN and CLM will sign the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ) treaty.
Ten years in the making, SEANWFZ affirms Southeast Asia's commitment to nuclear non-proliferation.
Though some of the thunder of SEANWFZ's signing might have been taken away by the United States' dismissal of the pact last week, ministers and officials are still hailing it as a milestone, both in terms of regional peace and cooperation.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said upon his arrival here last week that Washington's statement in no way undermined SEANWFZ. He noted that other nuclear-weapon-free-zone treaties, such as the South Pacific's treaty of Raratonga, signed over a decade ago, have been successful despite their non-acceptance by the U.S.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi also stated that ASEAN must do what is in the best interests of the organization and not cave in to the demands of a superpower which is not part of the region.
Speaking of today's Summit, Alatas described it as part of ASEAN's continuing ascendance towards a higher plain which began at the first Summit in Bali 19 years ago.
He said that at the first Summit, ASEAN issued the Bali Concord which avowed ASEAN's common commitment to promoting cultural, political, economic and social cooperation.
Then, at the second Summit in Kuala Lumpur, ASEAN established a framework of dialog to promote security and economic cooperation known as the Post-Ministerial Conference.
The third Summit ASEAN broke new ground by allowing a non- member, Papua New Guinea, to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC). Such a move laid the foundations for the TAC to be the basis for relations should other states in the future also accede to it.
The fourth Summit in Singapore forged the first tangible trade mechanisms by establishing the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme to help create an ASEAN Free Trade Area.
Alatas points out that this year ASEAN climbs another step up by signing the SEANWFZ treaty and by the meeting of ASEAN and CLM.
The question that remains now is whether the SEANWFZ treaty can be potent despite Washington's censure, and whether ASEAN can remain strong and avoid being slowly diluted as new members with relatively backward economies join.
Editorial -- Page 4
Summit -- Page 6
Farm -- Page 8
Photo -- Page 12