ASEAN ministers embark on significant meeting

JAKARTA (JP): While it would be a little extravagant to describe the 29th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) as having special importance, it does have added significance compared to previous ones.

For this AMM comes between two ASEAN leaders meetings; the summit in Bangkok last year and the informal summit coming up here later this year, and four months after the inaugural meeting between Asian and European heads of state.

So it is not surprising that many of the items to be discussed at the two-day AMM will be follow-ups to or preparation for those meetings.

One of the most important results of the 1995 ASEAN summit was the leaders' decision to elevate functional cooperation to a higher plain, thus ministers are expected to take concrete steps in that direction.

"Its elevation to a higher plain will fortify the dynamic interaction between the three facets of ASEAN cooperation," said ASEAN Secretary-General Dato' Ajit Singh before today's meeting.

"Political cooperation brings about peace which makes possible economic progress and prosperity, and functional cooperation provides the means for sharing that prosperity," he explained.

The rising focus on functional cooperation marks a new chapter in ASEAN relations, which have in the past mostly concentrated on security and economic issues.

Another initiative to be followed up on is the Mekong Basin development project.

ASEAN economic ministers gathered in Kuala Lumpur in June to form the Mekong Basin Development Cooperation and the AMM will discuss that meeting's report, including the possibility of a joint economic and foreign ministerial meeting prior to the informal summit in December.

On administrative matters, the AMM will begin to look at ways of restructuring or possibly expanding the ASEAN Secretariat to facilitate its increasing workload.

ASEAN currently holds some 250 meetings a year and the secretariat is becoming increasingly stretched in dealing with these activities.

Ajit Singh has suggested the possibility of teleconferencing as a means of dealing with these responsibilities.

Indonesia's director general for ASEAN affairs, Rahardjo Djamtomo, said that it is important to study the matter from both the external relations and the secretariat's points of view.

"The point is how to make the organization more effective," he said.

The dynamic growth of the region and the success of ASEAN have resulted in a flurry of applicants for dialog relations. This is why ministers must set out to prepare a set of criteria to accept new dialog partners.

India is the latest country to be accorded full dialog partner status.

On the political side, the AMM will again make another call for nuclear weapons states to support the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty signed in December.

Nuclear powers such as the United States expressed concern over some elements of it and refused to accede to the Treaty's protocol.

Some officials have pointed out that one avenue which could be discussed by the ministers is tabling a draft resolution on the Treaty at the United Nations General Assembly.

Continuing on the nuclear theme, the AMM will spend time deliberating on the tough negotiations to complete a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Though at present such a treaty would not guarantee the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, the AMM is expected to show strong support for a conclusion of a test ban treaty this year.

Other international topics likely to be touched upon are Bosnia-Herzegovina, the stalled peace process in the Middle East, the Korean peninsula and South-South Cooperation.

Since several ASEAN members are directly involved in the overlapping claims in the South China Sea, the AMM will discuss the issue and its latest developments.

While many of the above issues are of global importance, the significance of this AMM probably lies in a subject closer to home.

During this meeting ASEAN foreign ministers will take note of and accept the applications for membership from Cambodia and Laos.

Furthermore, Myanmar will officially be welcomed as an observer to the association.

ASEAN has already begun to involve them in many of its activities and the AMM could very well recommend inviting the three to the informal summit here in December.

Thus by the end of the meeting tomorrow, ASEAN will finally be realizing the dream of an ASEAN 10 conceived nearly 30 years ago. (mds)