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FOREIGN ministers attending the 14th Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Regional Forum see a need to
strengthen not only security cooperation in the region but ties with
other regional and international security organizations.
At the conclusion of the 40th
Asean Summit Thursday night, the ministers recognized the vital role
of security cooperation to promote peace, stability, democracy and
prosperity in the region.
“We recognized the security
challenges facing the Pacific Island countries and the need for the
international community to play a constructive role in ensuring
political stability and socio-economic development, through better
aid coordination among other means,” Foreign Affairs Secretary
Alberto Romulo said in his Chairman’s Statement issued at the
close of the one-day meeting.
To achieve their objective, the
ARF participants welcomed the measures undertaken to implement the
Concept Paper on Enhancing Ties between the ARF and other regional
and international security organizations adopted at the 13th ARF in
2006 in Kuala Lumpur.
The ARF participants have also
tackled key regional and international security issues, ranging from
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, terrorism and maritime
security to the situation in the Middle East.
The ministers stressed the
importance of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in
maintaining the peace and stability in the Asia Pacific even as they
welcomed the North Korea ‘s decision to allow International Atomic
Energy Agency to verify the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear
facility.
The 27 foreign ministers,
including the one from newly accepted Sri Lanka, the 27th
participant of the ARF, called for continued international efforts
to promote and enhance dialogue and broaden the understanding among
faiths, cultures and civilizations to curb the threat of terrorism.
Established at the 26th Asean
Ministerial Meeting in Singapore in 1993, the ARF aims to foster
constructive dialogue and consultation on political and security
issues of common interest and concern; and to make significant
contributions to efforts toward confidence-building and preventive
diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region.
--Francis Earl A. Cueto
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