Indochinese on track to join ASEAN: Goh

Indochinese on track to join ASEAN: Goh

SINGAPORE (AFP): Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are on track to
join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by the
end of the year, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in
remarks published here yesterday.

Leaders of ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, decided last
year all three must join the organization at the same time.

"All three must be ready at the same time. In other words, the
pace will be determined by the slowest of the three countries,"
Goh told reporters Tuesday at the end of a two-day visit to Laos.

He noted the three countries had been observing ASEAN
procedures and trying to meet membership requirements for some
years now, the Straits Times said.

"My own sense is that they should be able to make it before
the end of the year," Goh was quoted as saying.

"We will be celebrating our 30th anniversary in Kuala Lumpur
when the ASEAN leaders meet, and it will be symbolically
important if we can also expand ASEAN to include the three
countries.

"But the pace actually depends on their own readiness. I do
hope they can make it before the end of the year."

Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have been expected to join ASEAN as
fully-fledged members as early as July, when ASEAN foreign
ministers meet in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Western partners of ASEAN have urged caution, particularly
concerning Myanmar, because of reservations over the human rights
situation in the military-ruled nation.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has warned entry
into ASEAN will consolidate the power of the ruling junta and
make it harder to move towards democracy.