The 56th ASEAN ministerial meeting kicked off in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Tuesday with the host country affirming necessity of cooperation among the regional countries.
Addressing the inaugural session, Indonesian Foreign Minister Rento Marsudi said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) could only be significant with credibility, thus the regional countries have no choice other than boosting pan-ASEAN cooperation.
The session was attended by ten foreign ministers of the member states. Myanmar was absent after the organization decided to ban the country’s leaders from attending senior-level meetings in retaliation for the junta’s failure to implement a conciliation plan adopted by ASEAN in 2021.
ASEAN’s peace plan calls for a dialogue among all parties, an immediate halt to violence, the appointment of an Asean special envoy to facilitate mediation and humanitarian assistance.
Insurgencies have been ongoing in Myanmar since 1948. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with several ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar’s armed forces, the Tatmadaw, for self-determination.
Marsudi abstained from mentioning Myanmar, warned against bringing nuclear weapons to the region and regretted that major powers failed to ink the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the foreign ministers would hold meetings for two days, in addition to 18 other sessions of diverse levels to be held later to address nuclear non-proliferation in South Asia.
The statement said the ministerial meetings would also involve representatives of partners, namely India, New Zealand, Russia, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America.
Source: Kuwait News Agency