ASEAN will continue to promote peace
ASEAN will continue to promote peace
JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) will continue to promote international peace and security
through regional cooperation in all fields, according to
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas.
Speaking at a regional symposium on cooperative peace in
Southeast Asia here on Monday, he stressed that regional
organizations were more effective than military alliances in
maintaining security and peace.
The two-day meeting, attended by UNESCO officials and
delegations from ASEAN member countries, was jointly organized by
the two bodies.
"In view of the trend toward regional cooperation, I have no
doubt that states and especially developing countries will
increasingly turn to regional arrangements as a means of
overcoming and mitigating their security concerns," he said.
The strategy of seeking security through military alliances
with the major powers has long been seen to be counterproductive
and will increasingly become irrelevant, he added.
He said that as a regional organization, ASEAN has played its
role as a fervent advocate and practitioner of cooperative peace
and security among its member countries as well as with countries
in other parts of the world.
He said ASEAN countries have also developed a comprehensive
security policy and the Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality
(ZOPFAN) to promote security and peace in the region.
With the concept, ASEAN countries will individually and
collectively develop their political, economic and socio-cultural
capabilities to withstand internal and external threats, he said.
Alatas said that ASEAN has also establish its own forum (ARF)
to ensure stable relationships among its member countries and
with its dialog partner countries, including the major powers.
He said that ASEAN has forged economic cooperation through the
ASEAN free trade area (AFTA), which becomes effective in 2003,
and has pioneered the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),
which takes effect in 2020.
Meanwhile, UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor said that
his organization would enhance cooperation with ASEAN in numerous
fields to promote cooperative peace in the region.
"UNESCO is interested in fighting against illiteracy, in
intensifying education for women, in promoting intensive-skill
learning in education at all levels and in conducting research to
improve prosperity in the region," he said.
He also said that UNESCO would sign a memorandum of
understanding on education cooperation at the symposium's closing
ceremony on Saturday.
Asked about the possible negative impacts of the economic
crisis on the ASEAN region, Mayor said he thought that the crisis
would raise solidarity between countries in the region and lead
them to take joint efforts to defuse its impact. (rms)