ASEAN has 'made progress' on ASC plan

ASEAN has 'made progress' on ASC plan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Southeast Asian states have made good progress on closer security
cooperation, especially the planned regional security community
concept -- which was proposed by Indonesia last year -- the
Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.

Senior officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) met on Sunday and Monday in Jakarta to
discuss a draft plan of action for the ASEAN Security Community
(ASC).

"The meeting was productive as it made progress on specific
issues, such as conflict resolution and post-conflict peace-
building as well as in the area of institutional mechanisms,
foreign ministry spokesman Marty A. Natalegawa told The Jakarta
Post on Tuesday.

"The discussion was very positive. Indonesia now has a better
understanding of the position of each ASEAN member on specific
issues," Marty said.

Senior officials first met in February in Jakarta followed by
the foreign ministers meeting in March in Halongbay, Vietnam, to
discuss the regional security community.

But only general issues on the regional security community
were discussed at the two meetings.

"In the past, we had to do some guesswork on the position of
each country on the specific proposed activities. We now feel
there is a convergence of views on the issue," Marty said.

He said that further discussions were to take place to discuss
other areas, including political developments and conflict
resolution.

The security community was one of three pillars included in
the Bali Concord II endorsed last October at the ASEAN summit.

Together with the creation of similar economic and
sociocultural communities, the concord lays the foundations for
the creation of an ASEAN Community by 2020.

The security community idea was initiated by Indonesia, the
current chair of ASEAN, as a means of handling security matters
and disputes through a regional framework rather than bilaterally
or through international forums.

It envisages strengthening national and regional capacities to
fight terrorism and crime, and boosting political and security
cooperation.

Indonesia also proposed a regional peacekeeping force at a
meeting of senior ASEAN officials in February in Jakarta.

Other ideas presented at the Jakarta meeting included a
nonaggression treaty, an extradition treaty, a convention on
counterterrorism and an arms register.

Marty said the proposed peacekeeping force was also discussed
at the meeting.

"We discussed many issues, including the peacekeeping force.
We had a good discussion on the issue (peacekeeping force), there
is a general recognition of the need for a regional arrangement
to maintain peace and security," he said.