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.