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.