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ASEAN-Dialogue Partners Meetings Close in Bangkok
The Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) closed its meetings with its dialogue partners here Saturday, announced Thai foreign minister, chairman of the current ASEAN Standing Committee Surin Pitsuwan at a press conference.
Reviewing the achievements of the past days, Surin said one of the major happening in Bangkok was the appearance of the Democratic People's republic of Korea (DPRK), a country that is to positively participate in the discussions of regional security issues.
DPRK and other countries have pledged to continue the momentum already achieved in Asia stability, he said, stressing this means that DPRK's presence is a continuation of the efforts of the inter- Korean summit in June.
Answering a question about the ASEAN "Troika" approved at the current foreign ministers meeting, Surin said the regional organization's members are still working on it closely, suggesting the Troika does not constitute a mechanism of decision-making, but a consultative organ to tackle regional ad hoc questions of security nature.
At the meetings, Surin said, a series of other bilateral and multilateral issues were also discussed by the participants, particularly those on regional security, human resources, small arms trafficking, human-being smuggling and environmental protection.
Ministers from 10 ASEAN member countries and its 10 dialogue partners took part in the press conference, at which, issues like globalization, technology gap, EU-ASEAN cooperation and illegal drugs were also raised.
The closing of the meeting between ASEAN and its dialogue partners also means the ending of ASEAN's a series of meetings that include the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM); the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) between ASEAN and its 10 dialogue partners:
China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, India, New Zealand, and other countries; and the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC). They were convened here from July 23 to 29.
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