'Friends of ARF chair' mooted

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, JULY 30. The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr. Alexander Downer, proposed the formation of a ``friends of the ASEAN Regional Forum chair'' at the ARF meeting held in Bangkok last week.

In a bid to make the ARF more active in the arena of preventive diplomacy, Mr. Downer made his proposal to the 23- member body that straddles the Asia-Pacific region.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr. Downer confirmed that he had made the propsal to form a ``friends of ARF chair'', who is the ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) head. In the present case, the chairmanship f the ASC has passed on from Thailand to Vietnam.

The Australian Foreign Minister believed that such a proposal would be useful; but indicated that it could not happen immediately, but would come ``down the track.''

Though little of the ASEAN differences surface, it is publicly known that several ASEAN countries, who are the driving force behind the ARF, are not keen on any immediate strides towards preventive diplomacy, but would rather concentrate on confidence- building measures (CBMs).

New Zealand, too, has called for the ARF to move beyond the CBM phase into that of preventive diplomacy and, then, finally towards playing a role in conflict resolution.

The ARF Chairman's statement issued on July 27 makes it apparent that a compromise was arrived at in the public formulation on the issue. ``The Ministers reaffirmed that as it moved forward, the ARF should continue to develop at a pace comfortable to all participants, decisions be made by consensus, and confidence- building remains the key to the process. The Ministers expressed support to ASEAN in exercising its leading role in the ARF. At the same time, they also concurred that it was incumbent upon each ARF participant to contribute to advancing the ARF process,'' the Chairman's statement reads.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Beidaihe meet to focus on Sino-Indian ties
Next     : Boeing sees rapid growth in aircraft market