Asean membership decision on May 31

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Asean membership decision on May 31 


     By Edward Tang
     Thailand Correspondent 

     PHUKET -- The state of readiness of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar in
joining Asean
     this year will be determined when the grouping's foreign ministers meet
at the end of the
     month, Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar has said. 

     The ministers would meet and deliberate on a report prepared by the Asean
     secretary-general and senior economic officials on the three countries
in assessing their
     readiness, he added. 

     "Our position will be determined on May 31 when Asean Foreign Ministers
meet in
     Kuala Lumpur precisely to discuss this question. 

     "By then, we hope we will have a clear idea from both the Asean
secretary-general as
     well as from the Asean Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM). That
report is
     important because we need to know whether the three countries are able
to fulfil all the
     economic obligations. 

     "Because the thinking is when aspiring members want to join Asean, it
is not just the
     political obligations but also they must be able to fulfil the economic
obligations," he
     said in response to a reporter's question. 

     Prof Jayakumar was speaking to the press on Wednesday in Phuket, where
he was
     visiting as a guest of his counterpart, Mr Prachuab Chaiyasarn. 

     With regards to the rift in the Cambodian leadership between its two
Co-Premiers,
     Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Mr Hun Sen, the Singapore minister said
that Asean
     was "concerned with the development not vis-a-vis so much over
membership but as a
     development in a South-east Asian country" which had received much
interest from the
     grouping in the past. 

     He expressed the hope that the leadership would settle its problem in a
way that would
     not exacerbate tensions. 

     As for Myanmar, which became the target of US economic sanctions
recently for
     falling short of American expectations in improving its human-rights
record, he said that
     while the US was entitled to its own method in dealing with the
situation, Asean
     believed that its policy of constructive engagement would help steer
the country closer
     to Asean norms. 

     Earlier, he announced that senior officials, who accompanied him on the
visit, met their
     Thai counterparts and had agreed on the approach to step up ties
between the two civil
     services of both countries. 

     A final report would be completed ahead of Prime Minister Goh Chok
Tong's visit to
     Thailand next month, he said. 

     The decision to have an exchange programme was reached at a meeting
between Mr
     Goh and Thai Premier Chavalit Yongchaiyudh in Singapore in March. 

     Prof Jayakumar arrived with a delegation of senior civil servants on
Tuesday.