ASEAN Urges Peaceful Solutions for Global 'Hot-spot' Tensions

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 30, 2002

ASEAN Urges Peaceful Solutions for Global 'Hot-spot' Tensions

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Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attending their annual meet on Tuesday called for concerned parties in South Asia, Middle East and the Korean Peninsula to resort to peaceful means in solving tensions.

As clouds of war looming in South Asia, the ministers urged India and Pakistan to resume dialogue immediately instead of staging full-scale military confrontation.

"We considered peace and stability in South Asia as important to the whole region and beyond," said a communique issued at the ongoing two-day 35th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) which started Monday.

The ministers also said they would like to see Israel and Palestine resume peaceful negotiations towards comprehensive and full settlement of the Middle East problem, while stressing "the importance for full implementation of all relevant UN resolutions and the pledges made by both sides on advancing the peace process."

Expressing their concerns over the latest development in the Middle East, they also condemned the recent Israeli air attack in Gaza which killed 14 Palestinian civilians.

On the situations on the Korean Peninsula, ASEAN ministers voiced welcome towards the resumption of inter-Korean talks and encouraged further improvement in this direction.

"We welcomed the readiness of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea to resume the inter-Korean dialogue and encourage further follow-up measures to enhance inter-Korean reconciliation," they were quoted as saying in the communique.

The ministers called for more Inter-Korean cooperation in the spirit of the North-South Joint Declaration signed on June 15, 2000, and encouraged further promotion of the peace process on theKorean Peninsula.

They also hoped to see the early convening of the second inter-Korean summit.

The three issues on global "hot-spots" of South Asia, Middle East and the Korean Peninsula are also expected to be key topics for the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting following the AMM on July 31.

The ARF acts as a major security dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region, grouping 10 ASEAN members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- as well as Australia, Canada, China, the European Union,India, Japan, the DPRK, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the United States.

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