ASEAN to meet again on tsunami

Sat, 15 Jan 2005, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

INDONESIA: Jakarta will host a meeting of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from Jan. 18 to Jan. 19, to
follow up the proposal to establish regional mechanisms on
disaster prevention and mitigation, as agreed in the emergency
summit last week.

Marty Natalegawa, spokesman for the Indonesian foreign
ministry, said on Friday that the meeting would discuss ways to
increase ASEAN's capacity in rapid response to humanitarian
crises.

"This includes the utilization of military and civilian
personnel in emergency relief operations and setting up the ASEAN
humanitarian assistance center," he told reporters.

The ideas for a standby force arrangement and a regional
humanitarian assistance center had been outlined in the ASEAN
Security Community Plan of Action, endorsed by the 10 ASEAN
leaders in Laos last November. -- JP

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