Stability vital for SE Asia: Brunei, Philippine leaders
Stability vital for SE Asia: Brunei, Philippine leaders
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AFP): The leaders of Brunei and the Philippines, both claimants to the disputed Spratlys island chain, have stressed the need for solidarity to fuel economic growth in Southeast Asia.
"If there are no major upsets to the stability and security of the region, all countries in the region will thrive and prosper," Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said as he hosted a banquet for visiting Philippine President Fidel Ramos late Saturday.
Ramos said peace and stability were paramount if Southeast Asian countries are to exploit, collectively, each other's advantages for regional prosperity.
He singled out the East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA) linking his country's south with Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia, as an example where "peace and stability must underpin our labors for sustained development to be achieved."
The four countries together with Thailand and Singapore make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Oil-rich Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia lay claim, in whole or part, to the Spratlys -- viewed by analysts as the next source of regional conflict - along with China, Taiwan and Vietnam.
All claimants, except for Brunei, have stationed troops on the Spratlys, a strategically-located and reputedly oil-rich archipelago in the South China Sea.
Regional goals
Ramos, who held talks with Sultan Hassanal on his arrival Saturday for a three-day state visit, said the ASEAN Regional Forum, which held its first meeting in Bangkok recently, could help reduce tension and resolve conflicts in the region.
The forum groups ASEAN with its dialog partners, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United States and the European Union and invited guests China, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Russia and Vietnam.
Sultan Hassanal said that while nations in Southeast Asia must pool their resources to achieve regional goals, they needed to retain their differences in cultural and social structures.
"Our bilateral relations will be better if the leaders, and especially the media, of Southeast Asian countries recognize these differences and treat them with sensitivity," he said.
On the EAGA, Sultan Hassanal said Brunei wanted to serve as an international gateway into this growth area, with a population of nearly 30 million people.
The EAGA, formally established in March as an ASEAN initiative, groups the economies of Brunei, East and West Kalimantan and North Sulawesi in Indonesia, the states of Sabah and Sarawak and the offshore financial center of Labuan in eastern Malaysia and the southern Philippines.