ASEAN’s common voice on some United Nations issues will help strengthen the group’s role and image at the UN, said Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Minister Minh made the statement at an Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (IAMM) on Sept. 24 on the sidelines of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly in New York .

The minister praised the efforts to build a comprehensive partnership between ASEAN and the UN.

He urged the ASEAN committee at the UN to work closely with the UN Secretariat to complete the draft joint declaration on ASEAN-UN cooperation ahead of the ASEAN-UN Summit in Indonesia in November 2011.

At the IAMM, ASEAN foreign ministers discussed preparations for the 19th ASEAN Summit and related summit meetings scheduled for November 17-19, 2011 in Indonesia .

They also discussed the draft declaration on the “ASEAN Community in the Global Community of Nations” and the East Asia Summit’s declaration on the principles of mutual-benefit ties.

The same day, Foreign Minister Minh attended a Meeting of the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Commission, which focused on ASEAN’s stance on nations with nuclear weapons joining the SEANWFZ Treaty./.