RI to act as coordinator in PMC dialog with U.S.

RI to act as coordinator in PMC dialog with U.S.

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will act as the coordinating country
for member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) during its dialog with the United States at the upcoming
Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) here next week.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas told journalists
yesterday that, accompanied by ASEAN senior officials, he will be
facing his American counterpart.

"Indonesia is coordinating country for the dialog with the
United States, so I will be sitting face to face with Secretary
of State Warren Christopher, but I will be flanked by senior
officials from ASEAN," he said.

The annual Post Ministerial Conference is scheduled to be held
on July 24 to July 25. It brings together the seven members of
ASEAN -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam -- with its dialog partners.

ASEAN's dialog partners are Australia, Canada, China, the
European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea
and the United States.

Apart from a plenary session involving all participating
foreign ministers, ASEAN would also hold separate meetings with
the individual dialog partners.

Previously, all seven ASEAN foreign ministers would gather to
meet with the dialog states' ministers one by one.

However, as the number of dialog partners expanded, the number
of ASEAN ministers meeting one dialog partner has decreased. Last
year, the formula called for three ASEAN foreign ministers
accompanied by senior officials to meet with a dialog partner's
minister.

This year, Indonesia proposed that one ASEAN minister acting
as coordinator for the accompanying senior officials from the
other six ASEAN states meet with one of the dialog partners.

This proposal was put forward and accepted because of the
growing size of the PMC.

China, India and Russia are the newest members of the Post
Ministerial Conference.

Each ASEAN member has thus been assigned to coordinate talks
with a dialog partner. Brunei will coordinate talks with
Australia; Indonesia with the U.S.; Malaysia with Canada and
China; the Philippines with Korea; Singapore with the European
Union; India and Thailand with Japan; and Vietnam with India and
Russia.

"We hope we can hold simultaneous meetings and conclude them
within the two days," he said.

The two-day Post Ministerial Conference wraps up a week of
meetings, which begins with an ASEAN ministerial meeting on
Saturday.

Speaking on the proposal to designate all seven ASEAN states
under one time zone, Alatas said Indonesia welcomes it. However,
"it needs to be studied further," he said. "Indonesia alone has
three different time zones, each an hour apart."

He explained that the western Indonesian time zone, where
Jakarta is located, could probably be considered for the
suggestion, since Thailand and Vietnam are also on the same zone.

"The problem of different time zones in eastern and central
parts of Indonesia can't be easily resolved," he said, adding
that a special working group has been established to study the
merits of the proposal. (mds)