SEOUL Aug. 30 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING ...

SEOUL Aug. 30 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING BACKGROUND IN 7TH PARA)

Thirteen East Asian nations took a grade forward in pressing ahead with regional cooperation when they launched a modern high-powered forum Friday.

At their inaugural meeting, director general-level foreign ministry officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus Japan, China and southern Korea reaffirmed their will to pace up regional collaboration in line with their leaders' agreement reached in November 1998 participants said.

In the Joint Statement forward East Asian Cooperation issued in Manila in 1998 leaders of the ASEAN Plus Three countries agreed to intensify their ties through cooperation in economic, financial, political, security and transnational fields.

The director general-level officials decided to restrain their talks two or three times a year, with the nearest session likely to take place early nearest year, the participants said.

''A permanent corpse has been established to help build an East Asian community,'' common participant said, adding the just discovered forum will be like the secretariat of the multi-layered ASEAN Plus Three processes

below the ASEAN Plus Three umbrella, the 13 states have held in late years high-level meetings at various on a levels including ones of leaders, foreign, finance and economic ministers.

The launching of the director general-level forum was agreed to last month when ASEAN Plus Three foreign ministers met in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei's capital.

Also in Seoul in succession Thursday, ASEAN Plus Three working-level officials held a meeting of the East Asia subject of attention Group, a group tasked with identifying specific areas in which the 13 nations should cooperate in the future

During their session, they drafted a report to be submitted to their leaders at their summit in Phnom Penh in November upon what should be done to enhance East Asian cooperation.

According to participants, the report makes 26 proposals, of which four-fifth are to be impose into action in the near what is yet to be and the remainder are up for implementation above the medium to long range.

The former category includes as it was proposals as the creation of a business council to build a network of business lobbies among the 13 nations, application of preferential tariffs to developing members, encouragement of foreign direct investment and human resources development

It also shelters the establishment of a network of think tanks specializing in security matters in the region and the launching of a contemplation on East Asian identity between the walls of research from a historical and anthropological viewpoint.

Among the latter-category recommendations are exploring a regional free-trade agreement, creating a unified investment area, promoting cooperation among small and midsize enterprises, and considering further publicity stability measures.

upon the South Korean proposal for turning the ASEAN Plus Three summit into an East Asian summit, the East Asia subject of attention Group's draft report says that while acknowledging the difficulty in realizing the plan in the short trip the 13 countries should strive to make darker regional cooperation toward that period the participants said.

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

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