ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting winds up
This year’s first ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM
Retreat) closed in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia on
Jan. 17 after two days of discussions.
The
Vietnamese delegation led by the Assistant to the Foreign Minister Pham
Quang Vinh participated in discussions in a proactive and effective
manner.
At the meetings, Vinh highlighted the importance of
achievements ASEAN gained during 2010, stressing the bloc needs to give
priority to accelerating the building of the ASEAN Community and
ensuring an environment of peace, stability and security in the region.
Vietnam emphasised the priority to build the Community as well as
heightened the role of constructive, frank and sincere dialogues in the
region, in order to increase understanding and build confidence.
Regarding
the East Sea , countries should maintain peace, stability and fully
implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea
(DOC), peacefully solving disputes in line with international law and
the UN Convention on Law of the Sea, Vinh said.
ASEAN will continue to closely work with Indonesia to accelerate ASEAN cooperation that was obtained in 2010.
Indonesia
Foreign Minister Mary Natalegawa said ASEAN FMs had open, frank and
effective discussions on a number of important issues to the bloc’s
stability and development – including a consensus view of the Myanmar
situation and ASEAN policy on the nation’s development process and
integration, the East Sea and acceleration of negotiations to implement
the DOC, pushing up the building of the ASEAN Community by 2015, policy
and way of organising East Asian Summit and ASEAN Community in a global
community of nations.
Worthy of note, ASEAN member countries
created a unified and stronger voice on the requirement to respect and
obey the DOC. At the meeting, they praised recent developments in
Myanmar, stressing the need to have new approach to the country and
called to quickly lift sanctions against the country, creating
favourable conditions for Myanmar’s economic development and
assumption of the ASEAN chairmanship in 2014.
The FMs affirmed
their consistent stance to support the resumption of six-party talks
about tensions on the Korean peninsula, and the bloc’s principle to
serve a central role in the EAS and protest the abuse of power of any
major country.
The meeting was aware that ASEAN must unify and
strongly implement comprehensive and detailed action plans along with
mobilising all resources inside and outside the bloc in order to build
an ASEAN Community and raise the ASEAN role and contributions to
regional and international issues./.