ASEAN to get in sync with partners
The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali
In their bilateral summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Wednesday, the leaders of China, Japan, South Korea and India, expressed their support for the Bali Concord II as a solid platform to achieve an ASEAN Community based on political-security, economic and sociocultural cooperation, the summit chairperson President Megawati Soekarnoputri said on Wednesday.
The four dialog partners also told the 10 ASEAN leaders they were ready to support the regional group in countering terrorism and other forms of transnational crimes, as well as the establishment of ASEAN economic integration. They are also committed to participating in the establishment of an Asian Bond as an alternative for regional financing and the efforts on containing and preventing SARS, HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases.
"The leaders (also) discussed several important issues such as the nuclear question on the Korean Peninsula, the future of East- Asian Cooperation, poverty alleviation, human resources development and the development of infrastructure for ASEAN integration," President Megawati stated as she read from her prepared speech after presiding over four separate sessions with the dialog partners.
The President described the summit with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao as productive. During the meeting ASEAN and China expressed their hope that the existing disputes between some ASEAN members and China on the issue of the Spratly islands would be resolved by peaceful dialog.
"We also agreed to continue consulting on China's intention to accede to the Protocol to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone," said the President.
"We observed that political and security cooperation between ASEAN and China had matured over the years. We agreed to further enhance ASEAN-China relations and partnership to strengthen trade and investment, technical cooperation, cultural and social dialog to promote stability and prosperity in the region."
In the ASEAN-Japan Summit, the leaders agreed to promote a comprehensive economic partnership and to engage in security cooperation in fighting terrorism, the fight against piracy and cross-border issues.
"We agreed that partnership between ASEAN and Japan had contributed to peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia- Pacific region," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the ASEAN leaders did not sign any formal agreement with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. President Roh briefed his hosts about the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula and the next round of Six-Party Talks on the nuclear issue.
"We hoped that the next round of talks would be held soon to maintain the momentum for dialog, and that the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) could be utilized as a forum to discuss this particular issue, since the parties are members of ARF," the President emphasized.
The last summit session was held with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, where he proposed further cooperation in agriculture, biotechnology, human resources development and agro- processing. The leaders also agreed to set up a working group on agriculture.
"ASEAN leaders expressed satisfaction at the rapid development of ASEAN-India relations and cooperation within a short period of two years as an ASEAN dialog partner," the President concluded.