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ASEAN wraps-up 14th Summit |
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by Usa Pichai
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Sunday, 01 March 2009 22:14 |
Hua Hin -– Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Sunday, wound-up the 14th Summit agreeing to tackle the “illegal migrants in Indian Ocean” issue in March.
The annual regional leader’s summit held at Thailand’s beach resort of Hua Hin was wrapped up on Sunday with leaders of the 10 countries sealing several agreements; including the cases related to military-ruled Burma.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand’s Prime Minister and the chairman of the group, during a press conference on Sunday said the bloc welcomed the “Burmese government’s willingness to engage in active cooperation with the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Right to address the international community’s concern about the situation in Burma.”
He also welcomed the release of political detainees and expected the inclusion of all political parties in the process leading to general elections in 2010 which will contribute significantly to the national reconciliation process.
But Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during a separate press conference said in reply to a reporter’s question that Burma has indicated its willingness to directly interact with the UN process rather than with ASEAN on the country’s democratization.
Abhisit, during the press conference said the summit had agreed to use the term “Illegal migrants in Indian Ocean” to indicate Rohingya, Bengalis and other groups of migrants in the Indian Ocean.
During a separate press conference, Abhisit told the Thai media that the Rohingya issue will be tackled in cooperation with related states.
“However, the best way to solve the problem is from the cause,” he added.
ASEAN in its joint statement released on Sunday noted on the Rohingya issue that cooperation among countries of origin, transit and destination is of great importance. The group tasked the ASEAN Secretary-General to coordinate with the Burmese government to obtain relevant statistics related to these illegal migrants in the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya has accepted an invitation from the Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win, to make an official visit to Burma at the end of March, according to Tharit Charungvat, Director-General of the Department of Information and Foreign Minister spokesman.
The invitation was extended during a separate meeting between the two ministers during a meet on Saturday on the sidelines of the summit. The two ministers also agreed to discuss illegal migrants, border crime and drug trafficking during the visit.
On the Rohingya issue, Kasit was informed by his Burmese counterpart that there has been tripartite cooperation since 1990 between Burma, Bangladesh and the UNHCR. However, the problem did not lend itself to easy solutions, given the complex nature of the problem and the long shared border between Burma and Bangladesh.
Minister Nyan Win, nevertheless, reiterated his country’s willingness to take back the Rohingya, calling them members of the Bengali minority group.
The issue of Rohingya boatpeople has become heated in the region after about 1,000 of them were rescued off Thailand, India and Indonesian coasts since December 2008.
On the issue of drug trafficking, Nyan Win informed Kasit that Burma has made a lot of effort in solving this problem but still faced the illegal import of precursor chemicals for methamphetamines.
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