The foreign ministers of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea
expressed continued commitment to the ASEAN Plus Three process in
Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
The foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) met with their counterparts from China, Japan
and South Korea at the Seventh ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers'
Meeting.
In a chairman's statement issued after the meeting, the
ministers noted with satisfaction the progress achieved in ASEAN
Plus Three cooperation over the past nine years, which covers 16
sectors and has 48 mechanisms to facilitate and implement
cooperation.
The ministers welcomed the establishment of cooperation in four
new sectors under the ASEAN Plus Three framework, namely, rural
development and poverty eradication, women's issues, disaster risk
management and emergency response, and minerals.
Thailand and South Korea will organize the East Asia Cultural
Week separately in 2007 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
ASEAN Plus Three cooperation.
The ministers reaffirmed the urgent need to address energy
security issues as the increase in oil prices has highlighted the
need to search for alternative sources of energy.
The energy ministers of ASEAN Plus Three are due to meet on July
27, 2006, in Vientiane, Laos, to discuss these issues.
The ministers welcomed the convening of the East Asia Summit as
a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic
issues of common interest with the aim of promoting peace,
stability and economic prosperity in East Asia.
The ministers reiterated their consistent position that the next
United Nations Secretary-General should be selected from an Asian
member state of the UN.
They also discussed preparations for the 10th ASEAN Plus Three
Summit and the Second East Asia Summit, which will be held on
December 11 and 13 respectively in Cebu, the Philippines.
The ASEAN Plus Three Ministerial Meeting has been held on the
sidelines of the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conferences since 2000.
(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2006)