ASEAN officials review documents to be signed

ASEAN officials review documents to be signed

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

BANGKOK (JP): Senior officials of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) held a joint meeting yesterday to fine tune
11 documents which are to be signed next week by ministers and
leaders of ASEAN member countries.

The most significant of these documents will be the signing of
the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANFZ) treaty and
the Bangkok Declaration

Suvidya Simaskul, the director general of information at
Thailand's foreign ministry, said the purpose of yesterday's
Joint Consultative Meeting (JCM) "is to review and make last
minute touches to the Bangkok Declaration."

Suvidya said the Bangkok Declaration will consist of four main
issues: political and security cooperation, economic cooperation,
functional cooperation, and external relations.

ASEAN senior officials have held two meetings since Wednesday,
one focusing on political-security matters (SOM) and the other on
economic affairs (SEOM).

Formed in 1967, ASEAN originally grouped Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei became the sixth
member in 1984, followed by Vietnam in July of this year.

The senior officials meeting precedes a ministerial level
meeting, which begins on Monday, and the fifth ASEAN heads of
government summit scheduled for this coming Thursday.

Suvidya said the fundamental theme of the Declaration will be
cooperative peace and shared prosperity.

Thai foreign ministry official Sukhum Rasmidatta noted that
during deliberation on the Declaration officials also focused on
social issues affecting member countries and ways to improve the
quality of life among the peoples of ASEAN.

Apart from the Declaration and SEANWFZ the heads of government
will also sign the Protocol to Amend the Framework Agreement on
Enhancing ASEAN Economic Cooperation.

The amendment is needed to facilitate Vietnam's recent entry
into ASEAN.

The summit will also adopt the report issued by the foreign
and economic ministers to the ASEAN heads of government.

At the ministerial level seven documents have been prepared
for signing, one by the foreign ministers and six others by the
economic ministers.

Of the six to be signed by the economic ministers, two will
solely involve Vietnam. These are the Protocol for the Accession
of Vietnam to the Framework Agreement on Enhancing ASEAN Economic
Cooperation and the Protocol for the Accession of Vietnam to the
CEPT.

The only agreement to be signed by the ASEAN foreign ministers
will be the Protocol to Amend the ASEAN Food Security Reserve
Act.

Indonesia's director general of political affairs, Izhar
Ibrahim, said that in general there were no major points of
contention during the SOM.

"Between ASEAN countries there are not too many differences,"
he said, adding that the ones that did exist were more technical
in nature.

Though the meetings on security and political issues went
relatively smooth, it was at the SEOM that strong divisions
occurred concerning Indonesia's desire to withdraw a number of
agricultural-based items from a list which would require
immediate tariff reductions.