A PROPOSED charter for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
is due to be finalised in September, a senior official with the
regional grouping said last week.
Mr Termsak Chalermpa-lanupap, a senior aide to the ASEAN secretary
general, Mr Ong Keng Yong, was speaking ahead of the annual meeting
of ASEAN foreign ministers in Manila next week.
In an email to The Myanmar Times, he said a committee formed
in January was expected to present the first draft of the charter
– aimed at transforming ASEAN into a rule-based community
by 2015 – to the meeting on July 30.
“The foreign ministers are expected to give their additional
comments/suggestions for the improvement of the ‘clean draft’,”
Mr Termsak said.
Relevant suggestions from the ministers would be incorporated
into the final draft and presented to the foreign ministers when
they meet for an informal ASEAN ministerial meeting in New York
on September 27, he said.
“The draft ASEAN Charter will have to be finalised by
the end of September, so that it can be presented for national
scrutiny and processing in each member state during October 2007,”
he said.
Mr Termsak said ASEAN was “on track” to have the
charter ready for signing by the grouping’s leaders at its
13th summit in Singapore from November 19 to 21.
ASEAN began work on the charter in December 2005 when it appointed
an Eminent Person’s Group on the ASEAN Charter, comprising
serving and retired officials from each of the grouping’s
10 members.
The group’s recommendations for the charter were presented
to the ASEAN leaders’ summit in the Philippines earlier
this year. They call on ASEAN to retain its cherished principle
of reaching decisions by consensus wherever possible but also
provide for members to vote on issues on which agreement cannot
be reached.
The recommendations allow for sanctions or expulsion from the
grouping in situations where there is non-compliance with the
charter.
Myanmar has said it believed the charter would provide an important
foundation for the future of the association.
However, it wanted ASEAN to retain its reliance on consensus
for decisions on issues involving security and international affairs.
The drafting process began in January when a committee comprising
foreign ministry officials from each member country was appointed.
ASEAN agrees that the charter is needed to transform the grouping
into a “rule-based, socially cohesive and politically stable”
community by 2015.
A highlight of the meeting is expected to be Thailand’s
nomination of a former foreign minister, Mr Surin Pitsuwan, as
the next ASEAN secretary general to succeed Mr Ong, a Singaporean
whose five-year term expires on January 1.
The secretary general is appointed according to the alphabetical
order of member states.
The foreign ministers’ meeting will be followed by meetings
between them and their counterparts from ASEAN’s dialogue
partners on July 31 and August 1.
ASEAN’s dialogue partners include China, South Korea, Japan,
India, the European Union, the United States and Australia.
Mr Termsak said a meeting between the foreign ministers and
their EU counterpart was expected to focus on holding a commemorative
summit in November to mark the 30th anniversary of establishing
dialogue relations between the two sides.
The meetings between ASEAN and its dialogue partners will be
followed by a meeting of foreign ministers of the ASEAN Regional
Forum, the Asia-Pacific region’s top security grouping,
on August 2.
Mr Termsak said Sri Lanka was due to sign the ASEAN treaty on
August 2 to coincide with its joining the ARF as its 27th member.
The ARF includes the 10 ASEAN members, as well as China, Japan,
South Korea, North Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan,
the EU and the US.
