KL pushes for ASEAN-plus secretariat

KL pushes for ASEAN-plus secretariat

MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur on Sunday pushed for ASEAN approval to house a secretariat for the dialog process between the 10-member Southeast Asian grouping and China, Japan and South Korea, which was rejected last July by some member countries.

"Malaysia believes there should be a secretariat to handle bigger issues beyond ASEAN. At the moment, the ASEAN secretariat (in Jakarta) is certainly very overloaded," Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters.

Earlier, Abdullah held a dialog session with some 30 young ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) leaders on the sidelines of the three-day East Asia Economic Summit.

Abdullah said Malaysia felt that for the dialog process between ASEAN and the three East Asian countries to be meaningful, a secretariat should be established to carry out follow-up activities.

Among the countries that were strongly against Malaysia's proposal were Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. --AFP