PHNOM PENH June 15 Kyodo (EDS: UP...

PHNOM PENH June 15 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) assembled here Sunday for annual talks awaited to be dominated according to such issues as the tensions forward the Korean Peninsula and the fight against global terrorism.

The gathering upon Monday and Tuesday will be followed according to a meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers and their counterparts from Japan, southward Korea and China on Tuesday, talks of the security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) upon Wednesday and a gathering of the 10-member ASEAN and its dialogue partners outside the region forward Thursday.

After the two-day talks, the ASEAN ministers will issue a joint communique in which they are rely uponed to urge the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula from one side dialogue and negotiations among the parties concerned

''We reaffirmed our conviction that a nuclear weapons-free Korea and a peaceful resolution of the now passing tensions through dialogue and negotiations would be a viable contribution to the pictures for peace and stability in East Asia,'' a draft communique said.

''We reaffirmed our support for the proces of dialogue and consultation among the parties directly concerned'' it said, hailing the talks held in April among China, North Korea and the United States and the cabinet-level meeting between North and toward the south Korea the same month

Although the latest draft has no mention of it, the ASEAN ministers are considering including a hint on Myanmar's recent crackdown forward the pro-democracy opposition, ASEAN sources said.

if it be not that due to its policy of noninterference, ASEAN would use mild language, alone noting Yangon's efforts for national reconciliation and the transition to democracy. The ARF, the prime multilateral forum forward security issues in the Asia-Pacific region, is awaited to express concern outright.

onward other political issues, the ASEAN foreign ministers are wait fored to discuss the postwar Iraq reconstruction, the situation in the Middle East and the relationship between India and Pakistan.

As for the economic side, they are going to begin again their determination to establish up an ASEAN Economic Community by way of 2020, a project to use ASEAN into a single market clear of tariffs and restrictions in succession the movement of goods among the 10 ASEAN states.

According to the draft communique, they ''recognized that deepening ASEAN economic integration and establishing an ASEAN Economic Community would have abysmal implications for ASEAN's institutions and practices.''

ASEAN clusters Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ARF consists of the 10 ASEAN states along with Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, novel Zealand, South Korea, North Korea, Papua modern Guinea, Russia and the US

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