Re: Asean regional forum admits Pakistan
Pakistan’s entry into ARF to boost regional security
* Khokar attends Post Ministerial Conferences of the 37th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
* Kasuri to sign Treaty of Amity and Cooperation today
JAKARTA: Pakistan’s admission to the Asia-Pacific’s only security forum on Friday is expected to ease tensions in South Asia, an official said Thursday.
Pakistan will formally become the 24th member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) when the grouping meets on Friday in Jakarta. India, which had initially blocked Pakistan’s entry in May, dropped its opposition after receiving assurances that bilateral issues such as Kashmir would not be raised in the forum.
“This is very important for Pakistan because we have been trying to forge closer relations with Southeast Asian nations, and this will facilitate that,” Masood Khan, spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign office, told AFP. Acceptance into ARF would “act as a catalyst to promoting peace” in South Asia, Mr Khan said.
Pakistan is “interested in seeing peace and stability in the region because what happens in South Asia has a direct and indirect effect on Southeast Asia,” he said. ARF membership would also give Pakistan the opportunity to participate and deliberate on issues relating to “peace and security, confidence-building and preventive diplomacy,” Mr Khan said. “And this is good for Pakistan from a political point of view.”
ARF includes the 10 ASEAN countries and partners Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, South and North Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, and the United States.
France, Britain, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, East Timor, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have also applied to join the forum. AFP
APP adds: Pakistan already has very close relations with the northeast Asian states and the Southeast Asian nations as well as the whole of East Asia, Mr Khan added. He said joining the ARF would also have a positive impact on the country’s industry, agriculture, trade and many other sectors “because we can benefit from the synergy that we have seen in ASEAN and beyond that a new synergy that is developing between ASEAN and other important countries.”
Asked if the entry into ARF would lessen the tension between India and Pakistan he said, “For that we have started a dialogue this week when the two foreign secretaries met in New Delhi,” and added that they had a first round.
They discussed peace and security and Kashmir and there are other six agenda items, which Pakistan hopes will be discussed in the near future. He observed that the East Asian community was interested in seeing peace and stability in South Asian region “because what happens in South Asia can have a direct or indirect impact on the situation here.”
In other related news, Foreign Secretary Riaz H Khokhar had “good meetings” with the foreign minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Dy Nien and deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Laos PDR, Somsavat Lengsavad, at the Post Ministerial Conferences of the 37th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) on Thursday.
Mr Khokar thanked them for their support to Pakistan in the membership of ARF. They discussed follow-up action to the visit of the Vietnamese president to Pakistan and the Pakistani prime minister’s visit to Laos. “We feel that there is a good potential for Pakistan in cooperating with them bilaterally,” Mr Khokar told APP after the meeting. “We are also hopeful of playing an important role in this region in the economic area as well as in the context of security issues.”
Indonesia is hosting the 37th AMM, the Post Ministerial Conferences and the 11th ARF from June 29 to July 2. The AMM is an annual forum for the foreign ministers of ASEAN member countries.
At post ministerial conferences, the ASEAN foreign ministers meet with their counterparts from ASEAN Dialogue Partners. Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri arrived in Jakarta on Thursday to represent Pakistan at the 11th ASEAN Regional Forum and to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC). Earlier, Mr Khokhar was to represent Pakistan at the ARF and sign the TAC as special envoy. Pakistan is scheduled to accede to TAC in Southeast Asia on Friday. The treaty governs relations among members of ASEAN to promote regional peace and stability.
The objectives of the ASEAN Regional Forum are to foster constructive dialogue and consultation on political and security issues of common interest and concern and to make significant contributions to efforts towards confidence-building and preventive diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region.
Pakistan also affirmed on Thursday its determination to contribute tangibly and constructively to the process of peace and security in the Asia Pacific region. “Pakistan is prepared to fulfill its responsibilities and cooperate with the littoral states of the Indian Ocean on issues related to maritime security, in particular the safety and security of the important navigational routes,” Foreign Spokesperson Masood Khan said on Thursday. “We value the work being done in the field of maritime security and would be happy to contribute to its success.”
Maritime security is a high priority for the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Asia Pacific region as a whole, which is a hub of regional and international commercial activity. On Wednesday Indian Foreign Minister K Natwar Singh in an interview to Jakarta Post newspaper had offered India’s readiness to assist in providing security in the Malacca Strait. When asked what kind of cooperation his country could offer, Mr Singh said, details could be worked out.
Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed on joint patrols in the 805-kilometre long Malacca Strait, through which most of the Japanese and Chinese imported oil and one third of the world’s traded goods pass, said the Jakarta Post.
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Asean regional forum admits Pakistan
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