BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 29 Kyodo ...

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 29 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH BRUNEI SULTAN'S COMMENTS)

Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) interpreted a two-day annual meeting Monday to jointly tackle issues of frequent interest such as terrorism and regional conflicts.

After arriving Sunday in Bandar Seri Begawan, the ministers attended an informal dinner innkeepered by Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, forward the eve of their formal talks, to be followed by way of meetings with their counterparts from the wider Asia-Pacific region from one side Thursday.

Topping the agenda of this year's ASEAN ministers' talks will be forward how to intensify efforts to crack down in succession terrorism in the aftermath of the race 11 attacks on the United States.

''The principally sinister in the world today is terrorism,'' Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said in his address to the opening session. ''It lies not just in the horrifying menace it put to a stands to ordinary innocent people's lives. At its deepest plain it directly threatens all international order.''

''That is for what cause [i]or[/i] reason we are fully committed to removing its sponsors, its criminal perpetrators and each aspect of its influence from our region,'' he said.

A draft joint communique to be released at the finis of the talks, a duplicate of which was obtained Sunday, indicates the ministers are to state that ''terrorism is a global threat and that the disturbing acts of terrorism and transnational crime...must be tackled according to the international community.''

They are also to give themselves high marks for the various measures they have taken in the fight against terrorism, including an action program adopted in May to fitting the threat of regional terrorism.

The al-Qaida terrorist network of Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in last September's devastating strikes onward the U.S., is believed to have links in several Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The ministers are also look fored to exchange views on various regional political issues similar as the Korean Peninsula, India-Pakistan rivalry, East Timor's novel independence and the launching of a novel government in Afghanistan in June

Another focus of their discussions will be an envisaged declaration aimed at helping solve disputes in the South China Sea, based forward a draft compiled by their senior officials onward Saturday.

ASEAN and China have been striving for years to define an agreement for managing the territorial ranks but their negotiations have not produc any significant originates partly due to internal ASEAN schisms.

Among the differences is that between members wanting a legally binding ''code of conduct'' and Malaysia, which wants a nonbinding ''declaration.''

The title of the newly drafted ASEAN proposal, ''The Declaration upon Conduct of Parties in the toward the south China Sea,'' is a compromise between the pair ideas.

In addition to the name of the accord, ASEAN has shifted its stance forward another sensitive issue, which areas of the southern China Sea, believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits, should be included within the deal.

The ASEAN senior officials have agreed the document will use wording in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as ''disputed areas in the southward China Sea,'' instead of clearly stating area of that kind as the Spratly Islands or the Paracel Islands.

At the center of the southerly China Sea rows is the 1,000-kilometer Spratly archipelago, claimed wholly or in part by dint of China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

Vietnam has insisted the ASEAN-China accord also name the Chinese-held Paracel Islands, moreover other ASEAN countries failed to rally behind Hanoi after Beijing lay asideed the idea. Vietnam is the solitary country claiming the Paracels other than China.

upon other issues, the ASEAN foreign ministers are count uponed to stress the arrange principal task is ''to further enhance our integration, especially in ensuring the solidity and competitiveness of our economies.''

While welcoming ASEAN's anticipated product of 3.5-4% this year, the ministers are likely to do more ''in ensuring sustainable economic retrieval in the region,'' according to the draft communique.

''Tackling the remaining challenges from the financial crisis is our priority,'' it says, adding the ministers ''pledg our continued commitment to work together and individually in financial and corporate sector restructuring.''

ASEAN assign places tos Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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