ASEAN SHOULD FURTHER PROMOTE PEACE IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

HANOI, July 20 (Bernama) -- Asean should further demonstrate its ability and
role as a leading force for the promotion of dialogue and cooperation to
maintain peace and security in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Tuesday the 10-member
association should bring into full play and promote the effective functioning of
existing instruments and mechanisms to ensure regional peace and security.

They include the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), Southeast Asian
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Treaty, Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the Asean Regional Forum (ARF).

"We should also continue to promote and facilitate deeper engagement and
more constructive contributions of Asean partners to addressing issues related
to regional peace and security," he said when opening the 43rd Asean
Ministerial Meeting at the National Convention Centre, here.

Special attention, he said, should also be paid to carrying out measures
aimed at promoting mutual understanding and trust, and at shaping and sharing
common norms and codes of conduct governing relations among nations.

Asean must also strengthen cooperation in dealing with non-traditional
security challenges such as terrorism, transnational crime, natural disaster,
climate change, and maritime safety and security, he said.

Outlining the crucial role of Asean foreign ministers in the regional
operation, Dung said the grouping needed to uphold the culture of compliance to
ensure the effective realisation of agreements through comprehensive and
coordinated measures in realising the goal of building the Asean Community by
2015.

"Asean should carry out measures to speed up the implementation of the
roadmap for the Asean Community and translating the Asean Charter into reality."

They should also continue improving the quality and effectiveness of
cooperation with partners in promoting Asean's external relations, he said.

"Asean should present itself as a responsible member of the international
community in responding to current global challenges, especially the financial
and economic crisis, climate change, natural disaster, pandemics and depletion
of natural resources.

"We are building the Asean Community in the context of both advantages and
disadvantages, successes and shortcomings of Asean itself, and both
opportunities and challenges which resulted from the rapid and complex
developments in the region and the world," he said.
-- BERNAMA