Preparations completed for ASEAN meetings: RI

Preparations completed for ASEAN meetings: RI

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post

Without much fanfare, Indonesia, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has completed its preparations for the success of a series of regional meetings, in which 25 ministers and over 475 officials from ASEAN as well as 15 other countries will participate.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organizer of the meetings, said that the series would kick off on Saturday with the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM), and would continue until Monday. This would be followed by the 37th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM), the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMCs) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

The AMM will take place from June 29 to June 30, PMCs on July 1, while the ARF will be held on July 2, three days before Indonesia's first direct presidential elections.

"Preparations are going well, both in terms of substance as well as logistical matters relating to the hosting of such a big meeting," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty A. Natalegawa told The Jakarta Post. on Friday.

As far as substance is concerned, Indonesia has prepared an extensive agenda for the meetings as well as the necessary documentation, while Jakarta is also ready to facilitate the meeting, said Marty.

He said that his office had received confirmation from all 23 ministers and Pakistani Foreign Minister Kurshid Mahmood Kasuri, who is a new member of the top regional security grouping, about their participation in the annual ARF ministerial meeting.

During their meeting on July 2, all 23 members of ARF will admit Pakistan as its 24th member.

Marty said that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will arrive late in Jakarta because of his engagements in Turkey, Iraq and Sudan.

The ARF is the only regional security forum in Asia, a region with little history of security cooperation. It comprises the 10 ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and their 13 dialog partners (the U.S., European Union, China, India, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea).

Since its establishment in 1994, the ASEAN-driven ARF has made modest gains in building a sense of strategic community and allowed the development of a consensus approach on major security issues such as terrorism, North Korea, Myanmar and South China Sea.

East Timor Foreign Minister Ramos Horta will attend as a guest of the host at the 37th AMM and as an observer at the ARF meeting.

All the meetings will be held at the Jakarta Convention Center.

It looks certain that the organizers will face a big problem: How to deal with an army of about 500 journalists, from both the print and electronic media?

Surprisingly, the total number of delegates and registered journalists are equal.

"As of today (Thursday), we have received registration forms from more than 360 foreign journalists, mostly from Japan," Lutfi Rauf, director for information and media at the foreign ministry, told the Post.

"About 100 local journalists have also registered to cover the series of conferences," he said.

The journalists may surpass the 500 mark once the meetings begin.

To facilitate the media -- as most sessions will be held in closed-door meetings -- the ministry is planning to hold regular press briefings immediately after the meetings, said Lutfi.

The AMM will have on the agenda a draft plan of action for the ASEAN Security Community (ASC) concept. The 10 ASEAN ministers also hope to sign a declaration on the elimination of violence against women in the region.

The ASC idea was initiated by Indonesia as a means of handling security matters and disputes through a regional framework rather than bilaterally or through international forums.

During the PMCs, the ASEAN foreign ministers will meet their counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Russia, the European Union and the U.S.

A glimpse of the tentative list of documents to be issued at the meetings shows that Pakistan, Japan and the Russian Federation are slated to sign ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC).

The treaty governs relations among members of ASEAN and says political and security cooperation should aim to promote regional peace and stability.

The ARF meeting is slated to discuss regional issues like terrorism, security in the Strait of Malacca, Myanmar and North Korea.

The forum is expected to issue documents such as the ARF statement on strengthening transport security against international terrorism and a statement on nonproliferation.