ASEAN officials begin two-day dialog with U.S.

BATAM Island (JP): Delegates from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states and the United States begin a two-day dialog today on political and economic issues, including human rights in Myanmar and the recent bombardment of Iraq.

While the question of Iraq is not part of the official agenda, delegates said that it could be brought up during the dialog. The head of the Indonesian delegation, Izhar Ibrahim, said the issue could be discussed under the topic of "other items".

He added that a wide range of topics had been put on the agenda, covering both economic and political issues.

Formed in 1967, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

As full dialog partners, the U.S. and ASEAN hold annual dialogs to discuss a variety of issues.

Originally, the dialog was to be held in Bali in January but was canceled due to bad weather, which delayed the departure of the American delegation.

The U.S. delegation will be led by Undersecretary of State for Asia and Pacific Affairs Winston Lord.

The U.S. has been one of the strongest human rights critics of the regime in Myanmar and advocates a more isolationist policy toward Yangon. ASEAN has been reluctant to get involved in the country's domestic affairs and continues to pursue an approach of "constructive engagement" towards Yangon, which is a prospective member of the association.

The question of Myanmar is one of the definite topics on the agenda.

Separately, ASEAN officials told The Jakarta Post that a participating country in the dialog has been assigned to present a different topic for discussion.

The economic portion of the agenda includes trade, investment and the East Asia Economic Caucus.

The issue of post-Uruguay Round global trade and intellectual property rights will also be discussed by Singapore and the United States.

Regional political issues will include refugees, narcotics, the Asia European leaders Meeting and the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone treaty.

Thailand and the U.S., according to officials, are also scheduled to lead the discussions on the U.S. defense posture in Asia.

Officials also revealed Indonesia is scheduled to discuss the issue of United Nations reform.

They said that Washington's rejection of UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali for a second term is also expected to be discussed. (mds)