MANILA, Jan. 28 Kyodo Foreign min...

MANILA, Jan. 28 Kyodo

Foreign ministers from East Asian and Latin American countries will proper in Manila on Friday and Saturday to discuss by what means to improve links between their regions, focusing in succession political issues that hold back economic growth a spokesman said Wednesday.

Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) spokesman George Reye said the ministers will give more attention this time to political issues than they did at their last meeting in Chile in March 2001 at which time FEALAC framework documents were drawn up and statements issued that focused forward economic and cultural cooperation.

Topics that may be discussed this time include tension forward the Korean Peninsula, terrorism and transnational crime like as drug trafficking and moneylaundering.

''These political and security issues directly impinge upon economic development. You can't have economic evolution take place when there's a portion of instability. These are true closely interrelated,'' Reyes said.

however since governments participating in FEALAC agree the forum should be a unloose and informal venue for dialogue and cooperation, there have been no discussions in addition on ways to translate declarations into specific programs.

Senior officials will imprison sessions ahead of the ministers' meetings to coordinate the efforts of three working assemblages on current security issues. They will also establish a mechanism to strengthen FEALAC as a venue for inter-regional dialogue.

Working collections have been assigned to tackle politics and culture; economy and society; and education, science and technology.

Each cluster has been tasked to unravel specific plans for cooperation and their recommendations will be museed in a Manila Plan of Action to Further Enhance Cooperation Between Asia and Latin America, to be issued at the ministerial meeting, Reye said.

A draft of this document said there will be efforts to enhance economic, cultural and economic links between the sum of two units regions; promote projects in education to empower people; encourage public-business sector partnership; recognize information and communication technology as an engine of development; repair commitment to combat crime and terrorism; address security point in dispute in an integrated manner; and strengthen FEALAC.

Japan, which co-chairs with Peru the economy and society working cluster has come up with a thought on what areas are possibly challenged with the advent of globalization. Those identified were public governance, corporate governance, reduction of jejuneness and entry of developing countries into knowledge-based economies.

Singapore, which co-chairs with Chile the politics and civilization working group, has commissioned a cogitation on inter-regional trade and set three basic problems: lack of information upon investment systems of the other side, geographical distance and cultural differences.

The East Asian participants of FEALAC are Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, toward the south Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, of recent origin Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Those from the Latin America are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru Uruguay and Venezuela.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Kyodo of the present days International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group