International

ARF meet focus on aviation security

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE April. 21. Will the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting, to be held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, in July, adopt a plan of action to combat terrorism? Senior officials, who met for a three-day preparatory meeting in Bangkok earlier this week, are keen on enhancing cooperation in border control, VIP and aviation security, accounts of the deliberations said.

Officials, who attended the deliberations, told this correspondent that the focus of the meeting was on the staging of the coming football World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

The exchange of information and intelligence relating to the World Cup came up for discussion the officials said. They stressed that the nature of the discussions during the meeting was of a "very general'' nature.

A spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry told reporters in Bangkok that investment and tourist flows could be affected if countries did not act individually and collectively against terrorism.

He said that as the Asia-Pacific's regional security forum, the ARF could lay a role in building the capacity of nations to deal with the problems of terrorism. The Bangkok meeting, sponsored by Thailand and Australia, was attended by officials from the 23-member ARF grouping. An Australian official was quoted as saying after the meeting that the ARF plan to counter terrorism centred on maritime and aviation security as well as border control. ``Further work is needed. But there was no finger pointing....(but) the region needs to be seen to be taking action,'' the Australian official said. For his part, the Thai Foreign Minister, Surakiat Sathirathai, said about the meeting: "We are very pleased that the outcome is a very positive one. And I think this is a very important step, that this cooperation will be expanded from the ASEAN (groping) into the (ARF) countries.''

Mr. Surakiat was quoted as dismissing concerns that countries in the region had been "complacent'' when it came to dealing with terrorism. "I think we are not complacent at all....we are very committed....''The 23-member ASEAN Regional Forum, which was set up in 1994, essentially is a stage for discussing security concerns among a diverse lot of countries which include China, Russia, India and the United States apart from ASEAN and Pacific nations. While there have been efforts to nudge the ARF to deal with more substantive issues, the group remains a "discussion'' forum. It remains to be seen whether concerns about terrorism galvanise this ASEAN-led association to do more than talk about concerns.

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