Thai, RP want ASEAN meeting before APEC
Thai, RP want ASEAN meeting before APEC
BANGKOK (Agencies): Philippine President Fidel Ramos and Thai
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai have called for an informal meeting
of the six member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) to work out a 'joint stance' prior to the second
summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum in Indonesia in November.
The two leaders agreed on the idea during a brief meeting in
Bangkok on Thursday evening, according to a Thai government
spokesman.
Ramos dropped into Bangkok on his way to a nine-day official
visit to five European nations.
The two leaders also agreed the failure to hold a preliminary
meeting among the ASEAN members during the first APEC summit
meeting in Seattle last year resulted in incoherent positions
among ASEAN members on various issues during the summit.
APEC brings together 17 economies around the Pacific Rim to a
forum aiming to search for closer economic cooperation.
Conceived in 1989, APEC comprises Australia, Canada, China,
Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, Taiwan, the United States and the six ASEAN countries.
Chile is to join the group starting with this year's meeting.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand.
India
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao said in
Singapore yesterday that India would apply to join the APEC forum
as soon as the grouping signaled its readiness for new members.
Rao said that while he did not wish "to knock on closed
doors," he would, with Singapore's support, make a bid for
India's membership "the moment I see that there is a chance for
entry," he said.
The 73-year-old Indian premier was speaking to reporters at
the end of a three-day official visit during which he held wide-
ranging talks with Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and
called for a new partnership between India and the economically
booming Asia-Pacific.
Goh, responding to questions, said that the APEC "door is not
locked," adding: "It may not be open, but it is not locked. It is
waiting for the right opportunity for India to come in."
A Singapore foreign ministry official said on Thursday that
Singapore which hosts the APEC secretariat would welcome India's
membership in APEC because New Delhi was "a major player in
Asia."
Indian officials accompanying Rao said that Goh had promised
to back an Indian application to join APEC, but they said that
India was unlikely to become an APEC member soon because the
grouping's leaders had frozen new admissions for three years at
their last informal talks in Seattle in November last year.
APEC members account for half of the world's economic output
and more than 40 percent of global trade.