Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began an annual meeting in Singapore Monday morning, discussing Thailand-Cambodia border dispute, assessment of Myanmar Cyclone Nargis disaster, the ASEAN Charter and regional security.
The 10-member bloc's foreign ministers on Sunday night urged Thailand and Cambodia to exercise utmost restraint and resolve peacefully their border dispute.
"We urged both sides to exercise utmost restraint and resolve this issue amicably, in the spirit of ASEAN solidarity and good neighborliness," Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo said in a statement issued after the grouping's ministerial meeting informal working dinner on Sunday night.
They also encouraged Myanmar to continue working closely with the Good Offices of the U.N. Secretary-General and his Special Advisor Ibrahim Gambari in ensuring an inclusive process towards national reconciliation.
(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2008)