ASEAN summit on nuclear free zone

ASEAN summit on nuclear free zone

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Senior ASEAN officials are to formally
propose a summit with Japan to their foreign ministers and expect
a regional nuclear free zone treaty to be implemented by June, a
report said yesterday.

Malaysian foreign ministry secretary-general Abdul Kadir
Mohamad said late Wednesday at the end of a two-day meeting of
senior officials of the regional grouping that an ASEAN-Japan
summit was "a good idea." The meeting was held in Kota Kinabalu,
in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state.

Abdul Kadir also said ASEAN expects a treaty banning nuclear
weapons from the Southeast Asian region to come into force by
June.

By then, he said, seven countries will have ratified the
Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone treaty, the minimum
number required for the agreement to take effect.