ASEAN to change the shape of annual ministers' talks

ASEAN to change the shape of annual ministers' talks

SINGAPORE (AP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) is changing the structure of its annual foreign
ministers' meeting this year in a bid to make talks more candid
and direct, officials in Singapore said on Friday.

The changes "are intended to move away from meetings that have
tended to lean toward the ritualistic," said Bilahari Kausikan,
deputy secretary at Singapore's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The ASEAN foreign ministers will hold a ministers-only
retreat, away from other officials for the first time during
their annual meeting in Singapore next week, Kausikan said.

"The foreign ministers will have the opportunity to discuss,
very candidly and realistically, long-term issues and challenges
facing ASEAN," he said.

He added that security-oriented ASEAN Regional Forum talks
with the United States, Europe and other Asian countries, held
after the ministers' meeting, would also see changes.

The forum members will do away with the usual set speeches, he
said.

"Instead, they will focus more on impromptu, free-flowing and
subjective discussions," he said.

Observers expect territory disputes in the South China Sea,
the standoff between China and Taiwan and that between North and
South Korea to be likely topics of discussion at this year's
ASEAN meetings.

Asia's two-year-old economic crisis will also be a prominent
issue for ASEAN, Kausikan said.

"It's a fact that the Asian crisis has badly dented ASEAN's
reputation, and taken some of the gloss off its image," he said.

"We intend to use this (meeting) to send a signal that ASEAN
as a regional grouping is still nonetheless confident of its
future."

Along with the 10 ASEAN nations, the July 20-28 meetings in
Singapore will also be attended by global delegates including
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Chinese Foreign
Minister Tang Jiaxuan.

Representatives of countries ranging from Europe to Mongolia
are set to attend the Singapore event.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.