ASEAN seeks ways to boost intra-block cooperation

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 04, 2004

ASEAN seeks ways to boost intra-block cooperation

The upcoming Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting (AMM) Retreat will discuss important issues to boost intra-ASEAN cooperation and solidarity.

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The upcoming Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting (AMM) Retreat will discuss important issues to boost intra-ASEAN cooperation and solidarity.

At the retreat, which will be held on Thursday in Ha Long City of northern Quang Ninh province of Vietnam, foreign ministers of Southeast Asian countries will seek more ways to implement the 9thASEAN Summit's resolutions as well as the block's external relation strategy, local newspaper Labor on Wednesday quoted Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien as saying.

The coming retreat takes place at a time when ASEAN is facing anumber of opportunities and major challenges. Firstly, the group'sinternational image and prestige are increasing thanks to the success of the 9th ASEAN Summit last October and other summits with China, Japan and India, Nien noted.

Secondly, external relations with ASEAN partners, especially the three Northeast Asian nations of China, Japan and South Korea,and India have made huge steps forward in economics, politics and trans-national issues. China and Japan have become ASEAN's strategic partners, he added.

However, numerous problems and major challenges are ahead. Economically, many countries in the region are battling bird flu, a complicated development which followed soon after SARS was contained. Meanwhile, cooperation within the block in certain fields is still limited as the cooperation mechanism has not yet worked as effectively as expected, he said.

Member countries have, therefore, seen the necessity to sit down and openly and frankly discuss the issues of cooperation within the block. And the upcoming AMM Retreat will provide them with opportunities to seek effective solutions to outstanding problems.

At the retreat, ASEAN members will discuss concrete steps to put into practice two initiatives which were launched by Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai at the 9th ASEAN Summit.

One is to hold a meeting for leaders of ASEAN's poor localitiesin Vietnam, to exchange experiences in poverty reduction and narrowing the development gap, and the other is to organize a festival to promote tourism in East Asia, said Nien.

Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan VanKhai met with ASEAN foreign ministers and ASEAN General Secretary on Wednesday afternoon, one day before the retreat's opening.

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