Senior ASEAN officials meet, tackle action plan

2004-09-19

MANILA (AFP) — Senior officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in the Philippine capital Saturday discussed a draft action plan for creating an “ASEAN socio-cultural community.”


The second day of the two-day meeting, chaired by Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Sonia Brady, will focus on an ASEAN-China joint declaration, conference organizers said.

The gathering brings together officials of deputy foreign minister or undersecretary rank from ASEAN member states Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Details of the draft action plan discussed Saturday were not made public.

The plan is scheduled to be adopted at the ASEAN leaders summit in Vientiane, Laos in November, the Foreign Affairs department said in a statement.

It encompasses managing the social impacts of economic integration, enhancing environmental sustainability, and strengthening regional cohesion, the department added.

Partnership agreement

MANILA (AFP) — Senior officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in the Philippine capital to take up a draft strategic partnership agreement with China, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

The meeting brought together officials with the rank of deputy foreign minister or undersecretary from ASEAN member states Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The meeting discussed an ASEANChina “joint declaration on strategic partnership for peace and prosperity,” the DFA statement said without elaborating.

ASEAN and China agreed in November 2001 to establish an ASEANChina free trade area by 2011.
Diplomatic sources said the senior officials also discussed a controversial bilateral agreement between China and the Philippines to conduct a joint project to gather data on petroleum resources around the Spratly Islands.

The Spratlys are claimed in whole or in part by ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines, along with China, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Vietnam had earlier charged that the Philippine-China accord on the Spratlys violated an earlier agreement between China and ASEAN to avoid tensions in the disputed area.

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