ID :
196344
Thu, 07/21/2011 - 16:25
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https://oananews.org//node/196344
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ASEAN-plus-3 ministers seek resumption of 6-party talks+
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, July 21 Kyodo -
The foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea on Thursday sought the resumption of the stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs as part of efforts to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The ministers reaffirmed the importance of ensuring food security in the region, and welcomed the planned conclusion of an ASEAN-plus-three emergency rice reserve system by November to fend off volatility in rice prices.
Speaking to journalists after a so-called ASEAN-plus-three meeting in Bali, Indonesia, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the ministers talked ''at good length'' about North Korea as the situation on the Korean Peninsula is of concern to ''not only countries in Northeast Asia but also those in Southeast Asia.''
''We wish very much to see the six-party talks revived,'' Natalegawa said, referring to the talks among North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, which have been stalled since December 2008.
''We wish very much to encourage the two Koreas to revive, to resume their inter-Korean communications,'' he said.
ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said the ministers stopped short of specifically discussing how and when the denuclearization talks should be resumed.
Efforts to restart the negotiations have been complicated by North Korea's two deadly confrontations with South Korea last year as well as its revelation of a uranium enrichment program in November.
Natalegawa, who chaired the meeting, said the ministers did not discuss territorial disputes in the South China Sea between China and ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines as nobody brought up the issue.
The ministers sought to boost cooperation in disaster prevention and management in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan in March, which caused radioactivity leaks into the environment from a nuclear power plant, a Japanese delegate said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto proposed holding a high-level international conference next year in Japan on how to cope with major natural disasters, the delegate said. Matsumoto asked Japan's ASEAN-plus-three partners to take part.
Matsumoto said Japan has been making its best efforts to put continued radioactivity leaks from the nuclear plant under control, and that the country seeks to recover from damage from the calamity and rebuild the economy at the same time, according to the delegate.
In this context, Matsumoto was quoted as saying that Japan welcomes a return, and eventual increase, of foreign business travelers and tourists.
The ministers hailed growing regional financial cooperation, such as the operationalization since May of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office, or AMRO, a regional economic research and surveillance body aimed at preventing financial turmoil.
AMRO, based in Singapore, is designed to play a pivotal role in coordinating the decision-making process for providing emergency liquidity to its member states under a $120 billion multilateral currency swap agreement known as Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization.
The ASEAN-plus-three meeting will be followed by meetings among foreign ministers of the East Asia Summit on Friday and the ASEAN Regional Forum, a 27-member security-focused gathering that includes North Korea, on Saturday.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
==Kyodo
2011-07-21 21:19:53
The foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea on Thursday sought the resumption of the stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs as part of efforts to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The ministers reaffirmed the importance of ensuring food security in the region, and welcomed the planned conclusion of an ASEAN-plus-three emergency rice reserve system by November to fend off volatility in rice prices.
Speaking to journalists after a so-called ASEAN-plus-three meeting in Bali, Indonesia, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the ministers talked ''at good length'' about North Korea as the situation on the Korean Peninsula is of concern to ''not only countries in Northeast Asia but also those in Southeast Asia.''
''We wish very much to see the six-party talks revived,'' Natalegawa said, referring to the talks among North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, which have been stalled since December 2008.
''We wish very much to encourage the two Koreas to revive, to resume their inter-Korean communications,'' he said.
ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said the ministers stopped short of specifically discussing how and when the denuclearization talks should be resumed.
Efforts to restart the negotiations have been complicated by North Korea's two deadly confrontations with South Korea last year as well as its revelation of a uranium enrichment program in November.
Natalegawa, who chaired the meeting, said the ministers did not discuss territorial disputes in the South China Sea between China and ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines as nobody brought up the issue.
The ministers sought to boost cooperation in disaster prevention and management in the wake of the deadly earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan in March, which caused radioactivity leaks into the environment from a nuclear power plant, a Japanese delegate said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto proposed holding a high-level international conference next year in Japan on how to cope with major natural disasters, the delegate said. Matsumoto asked Japan's ASEAN-plus-three partners to take part.
Matsumoto said Japan has been making its best efforts to put continued radioactivity leaks from the nuclear plant under control, and that the country seeks to recover from damage from the calamity and rebuild the economy at the same time, according to the delegate.
In this context, Matsumoto was quoted as saying that Japan welcomes a return, and eventual increase, of foreign business travelers and tourists.
The ministers hailed growing regional financial cooperation, such as the operationalization since May of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office, or AMRO, a regional economic research and surveillance body aimed at preventing financial turmoil.
AMRO, based in Singapore, is designed to play a pivotal role in coordinating the decision-making process for providing emergency liquidity to its member states under a $120 billion multilateral currency swap agreement known as Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization.
The ASEAN-plus-three meeting will be followed by meetings among foreign ministers of the East Asia Summit on Friday and the ASEAN Regional Forum, a 27-member security-focused gathering that includes North Korea, on Saturday.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
==Kyodo
2011-07-21 21:19:53
