Asean regional forum admits Pakistan

[MohammedA]

India-Pakistan FMs 'set to meet'
Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan are likely to meet on the sidelines of Asia's largest security forum, which has accepted Pakistan as a new member.
A Pakistani official confirmed that the Asean Regional Forum had accepted his country as its 24th member.

Correspondents say that India had initially resisted Pakistan's entry, but had dropped its opposition later.

Relations between the two nuclear armed neighbours, who have fought three wars since 1947, have thawed recently.

The Asean regional forum, which comprises the world's major powers, is holding its annual meeting in Jakarta.

'Catalyst for peace'

A Pakistani official told AFP news agency that Pakistan's membership was "the first agenda item today and Pakistan has already been admitted".

Pakistan has said that being a member of the grouping was important.

"This is very important because we have been trying to forge closer relations with South-east Asian nations and this will facilitate that," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan was quoted by AFP.

Mr Khan said the membership would also "act as a catalyst to promoting peace" in South Asia.

The expected meeting between Natwar Singh, and his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, on the sidelines of the forum would follow a series of meetings between the two countries recently.

The two men recently reached a deal to re-open both countries' consulates in the cities of Karachi and Bombay (Mumbai).

The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan held talks in Delhi recently- the first substantive discussions on disputed Kashmir in six years.

The foreign ministers are also expected to meet later in August.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ia/3859175.stm

Published: 2004/07/02 07:44:56 GMT

© BBC MMIV

[MohammedA]

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.

[TahirN]

Sat Jul 3, 1:14 AM ET

JAKARTA (AFP) - Japan and Pakistan have signed a "treaty of amity and cooperation" with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after a regional security summit.

The treaty already governs relations among the 10 ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. China and India signed the pact with ASEAN last October.

The Southeast Asian countries, as well as Japan and Pakistan, belong to the 24-member ASEAN Regional Forum, the Asia Pacific's only security forum. The forum held its annual meeting on Friday.

"Today is a very important and rather historic day between ASEAN and Japan," said Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima after Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi signed the document.

Japan's signing of the treaty is expected to boost relations with ASEAN, with which it has been holding dialogues for over 30 years, Kawaguchi said.

The two sides in December last year held a commemorative summit in Tokyo, and a proposal has been made to further boost cooperation by expanding ASEAN into an East Asia community that would also involve China and South Korea (news - web sites).

"Foreign Minister Kawaguchi is pleased to find that ASEAN member countries are very much keen in this idea of creating this East Asian community as a kind of future shape for this part of the world," Takashima said.

China in talks with ASEAN states earlier this week said an East Asian summit could take place as early as 2005, to be hosted by any of the 10 Southeast Asian countries.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...n_040703051454