ASEAN panel to eye mini-constitution

ASEAN panel to eye mini-constitution

SINGAPORE: A 10-member panel of senior ASEAN statesmen looking into a mini-constitution for the regional grouping will include Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar, it was announced on Monday.

The panel will discuss an ASEAN Charter, a constitutional framework of what the Association of Southeast Asian Nations wants to become, and help promote integration among members.

The emergence of India and China as economic powerhouses has created the impetus for greater cooperation among Southeast Asian nations.

Jayakumar's nomination was disclosed by Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo to coincide with ASEAN Day, marking the grouping's founding on Aug. 8, 1967.

Yeo noted that veteran statesmen have been similarly nominated by other countries. They include former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, former Malaysian deputy prime minister Musa Hitam and former Philippines president Fidel Ramos.

"Collectively, they constitute a very rich reservoir of knowledge and experience about ASEAN, and I'm sure they'll be able to put up very good proposals for the future," The Straits Times quoted Yeo as saying. "It's going to be quite exciting."

Yeo said that members will increasingly be "doing things under the ASEAN flag".

Jayakumar and the other members of the group will meet for the first time in December at the East Asian Summit in Kuala Lumpur. -- DPA