BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 26 Kyodo ...

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 26 Kyodo

Representatives from the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began talks Friday in the Brunei capital Bandar Seri Begawan to pave the way for the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting later this month

The Senior Officials Meeting, ASEAN official sources said, focused mainly in succession preparation of statements for the 9th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the 25th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) nearest week.

Topics overspreaded a wide range of cooperation in the region as well as in a global words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following including fighting terrorism and strengthening cooperation in succession economic issues.

At ARF and AMM, Brunei, the general chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC), is awaited to sign a joint declaration in succession behalf of ASEAN with the United States forward terrorism, while continued disputes through ownership of certain areas in the southern China Sea are to be addressed at the ministerial meeting, among other issues, the sources added.

Foreign ministers from 23 countries, including U Secretary of State Colin Powell, North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam sunshine and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, are count uponed to participate in the 9th ARF onward Wednesday.

At the AMM, ministers from ASEAN, which arranges Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, will qualified among themselves, followed by bilateral and multilateral meetings with counterparts from Australia, fresh Zealand, Europe, North America and North and southerly Asia.

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