ID :
210142
Thu, 09/29/2011 - 07:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/210142
The shortlink copeid
ASEAN URGED TO IMPLEMENT EXISTING RESOLUTIONS INSTEAD OF CREATING NEW ONES
By Manik Mehta
NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has urged Asean to concentrate on implementing existing resolutions already passed by the member states rather than pass new ones with slight modifications to the older ones.
"We have quite a few resolutions that need to be implemented,” he said Tuesday during a roundtable meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) here.
Natalegawa outlined the "domestic" priorities of the Asean group chaired by Indonesia for the past nine months, saying that Indonesia had set three priority goals towards making Asean a community.
“We need to ensure that Asean moves towards becoming a community, creating a viable political, economic, social community. We also need to be effective in resolving our internal differences ourselves, as we did in regard to the Thai-Cambodian conflict.
"Indeed, the resolution provided by Asean was also endorsed by the United Nations Security Council,” Natalegawa said.
Similarly, Asean was able to formulate the “guidelines for behaviour” in the South China Sea where China and four Asean countries – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – stake claims to the oil and gas-rich Spratly islands.
The second priority is to build an Asean architecture renouncing the use of force and ensuring transparency, security and confidence-building measures, among others.
The third is to take Asean to a new level of integration, speaking with ‘one clear voice’ on international issues, Natalegawa said.
The forthcoming East Asia Forum, with Asean as its centrepiece, would be a major platform to demonstrate ‘our voice’, he added.
Natalegawa took stock of developments around the world, saying that Asean was “closely following” events in the Arab world, for example, which is passing through what is euphemised as the “Arab spring”.
“We're also interested in democracy, human rights, social justice and so on. But soft issues such as these can become hard issues as has happened in Libya, for example. We must create a space for democratic transformation,” he said.
-- BERNAMA
NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Bernama) -- Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has urged Asean to concentrate on implementing existing resolutions already passed by the member states rather than pass new ones with slight modifications to the older ones.
"We have quite a few resolutions that need to be implemented,” he said Tuesday during a roundtable meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) here.
Natalegawa outlined the "domestic" priorities of the Asean group chaired by Indonesia for the past nine months, saying that Indonesia had set three priority goals towards making Asean a community.
“We need to ensure that Asean moves towards becoming a community, creating a viable political, economic, social community. We also need to be effective in resolving our internal differences ourselves, as we did in regard to the Thai-Cambodian conflict.
"Indeed, the resolution provided by Asean was also endorsed by the United Nations Security Council,” Natalegawa said.
Similarly, Asean was able to formulate the “guidelines for behaviour” in the South China Sea where China and four Asean countries – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – stake claims to the oil and gas-rich Spratly islands.
The second priority is to build an Asean architecture renouncing the use of force and ensuring transparency, security and confidence-building measures, among others.
The third is to take Asean to a new level of integration, speaking with ‘one clear voice’ on international issues, Natalegawa said.
The forthcoming East Asia Forum, with Asean as its centrepiece, would be a major platform to demonstrate ‘our voice’, he added.
Natalegawa took stock of developments around the world, saying that Asean was “closely following” events in the Arab world, for example, which is passing through what is euphemised as the “Arab spring”.
“We're also interested in democracy, human rights, social justice and so on. But soft issues such as these can become hard issues as has happened in Libya, for example. We must create a space for democratic transformation,” he said.
-- BERNAMA
