ASEAN moves to implement SEANWFZ treaty
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
SINGAPORE (JP): Nearly four years after signing a nuclear-free zone treaty, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will take the first step in its implementation on Saturday by convening an inaugural commission meeting to ensure compliance.
"This inaugural meeting is significant as it marks the first concrete step in the implementation of the SEANWFZ treaty," the Singapore foreign ministry spokesperson said here Wednesday.
In attendance will be all 10 ASEAN foreign ministers, who are in the island state to participate in their regularly scheduled annual gathering.
Singapore, as the current ASEAN chairman, is expected to be elected to head the commission.
Delegates here said the commission would establish an internal committee of senior officials to prepare draft rules of procedure.
The committee also be asked to explore how it would liase with the International Atomic Energy Agency and other agencies.
The Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ) was signed in Bangkok in 1995. However, it only came into effect in March 1997 when the seventh ASEAN member submitted its ratification.
The treaty's main objective is to make the region free of nuclear weapons. ASEAN countries pledged not to develop, manufacture, acquire, transport or test nuclear weapons.
The treaty also includes a protocol which ASEAN hopes nuclear weapons states, such as China, Russia and the United States, will eventually accede.
The convening of the commission is of great importance because it has the task of ensuring that member states comply and implement the treaty.
Formed in 1967, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Although barring the use of nuclear weapons and the dumping of nuclear waste, the treaty does not preclude use of nuclear energy for economic development.
However, ASEAN members are prohibited from disposing nuclear waste in the region, or permitting outside countries from dumping radioactive material in Southeast Asia.
SOM
ASEAN senior officials on Wednesday briskly wrapped up their preparatory talks for Friday's ministerial meeting.
The Indonesian foreign ministry's Director General for Political Affairs Nugroho Wisnumurti said there were no outstanding disagreements in the meeting and that the report to the ministers and the draft Joint Communique also were completed.
"It generally includes various issues affecting the region. There were no problems which became controversies," he told The Jakarta Post.
Going into Friday's annual ministerial talks, ASEAN delegates were upbeat about the fate of the grouping, boasting that it survived the darkest clouds of the financial crisis.
Singapore's foreign minister S. Jayakumar noted the turbulent past year.
"I am happy to note that ASEAN has emerged from the financial and economic crisis in better shape than last year," he said Wednesday in closing remarks to the senior officials.
"Despite its economic travails, ASEAN's activities in all fields continue unabated and its members have fully participated in these activities."
Thailand's Director General of ASEAN Anucha Osathanond asserted the need to continue showing a strong resolve to combat the crisis.
"We should show that to the world that our enlarged membership, rather than losing a sense of purpose, indicates instead a continued and enlarged determination to achieve greater goals," he said.
Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas is due to arrive here at noon on Thursday. He will later hold talks with his Singapore counterpart, before attending an informal working dinner with the other nine ASEAN foreign ministers.