Senior officials of ASEAN member countries and China have adopted in principle draft guidelines for the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the East Sea (DOC) to submit to the ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

The participants to the ASEAN-China senior officials’ meeting (SOM) in Bali , Indonesia , on July 20 applauded the outcome as a significant start for the goal of accelerating the implementation of DOC.

Apart from discussing the implementation of DOC, the meeting dealt with measures to accelerate full and effective implementation of DOC, an important document signed between ASEAN and China, which shows a common commitment to promoting peace, stability, maritime security and safety, confidence-building cooperation, and the peaceful settlement of disputes on the basis of international laws, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The ASEAN-China SOM was held under the 44 th ASEAN Ministers’ Meeting (AMM 44) that closed on July 19 with a view to ensuring peace, stability for regional development and speed up the building of the ASEAN Community by 2015.

The two sides agreed that the next ASEAN-China SOM will take place in China in the coming time, Vietnamese SOM head Pham Quang Vinh and Chinese SOM head Liu Zhenmin said at the end of the meeting.

Assistant to the Vietnamese Foreign Minister and head of the Vietnamese SOM Pham Quang Vinh coordinated the meeting together with his host Indonesian counterpart./.