ASEAN discusses terrorism with U.S.

ASEAN discusses terrorism with U.S.

Indonesia and other ASEAN member countries have held talks
with the United States on the terrorism issue in an effort to
reach a consensus on how to build cooperation in combating the
problem, an Indonesian official said in New York on Friday
(Saturday in Jakarta).

Director-general for foreign economic relations at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Makarim Wibisono, who led the
country's delegation to the meeting, said the discussions were
held in Washington DC on Thursday.

"The discussions were directed toward seeking practical
measures that could be implemented directly to combat terrorism,"
Makarim said.

The talks, he said, touched on three points -- cooperation on
the exchange of intelligence information, improving each
country's capacities for dealing with the terrorism question, and
cooperation on how to protect each country's territory against
terrorism.

Makarim said other ASEAN member countries had asked Indonesia
to take note of all the issues related to terrorism that had been
discussed in the meeting and encouraged it to hold dialogs with
the U.S.

Senior ASEAN officials on the sidelines of the meeting also
held discussions with U.S. President George W. Bush's national
security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.

Makarim pointed out that Rice had hailed the ASEAN effort to
enhance its security cooperation with the U.S.

"At least, she showed no hesitation in responding to the wish
of the ASEAN countries to enhance security cooperation (with the
U.S.)," he said.

Rice, however, asserted in the meeting that increased security
in a given region could not only be achieved through military
means. --Antara