On 19 July 2010, the first day of the 43rd AMM/PMC/17th ARF Meetings at the ministerial level, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya attended the Meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Commission, in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Chaired by the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem, the Meeting discussed progress achieved in implementing the Plan of Action to Strengthen the SEANWFZ Treaty. Following the Meeting, Foreign Minister Kasit informed the press that the Meeting had agreed to his proposal to strengthen cooperation and linkages with the other nuclear-weapons-free zones around the world, namely those in Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central Asia, as well as in Mongolia. In this connection, as the Depositary State for the Treaty, Thailand stood ready to assist. As some SEANWFZ States Parties were also considering the feasibility of constructing nuclear power plants, Foreign Minister Kasit also proposed that, as a confidence building measure, those States Parties should keep the others informed of developments and progress made as this was an issue that could potentially affect other countries in the region.
Regarding efforts to encourage the five Nuclear-Weapon States (NWS) to accede to the Protocol of the Treaty, the SEANWFZ States Parties would first try to resolve among themselves existing outstanding issues, particularly those related to transit rights and port/airfield visits. At the same time, effort would also be made to engage such countries as India and Pakistan as well.
The Meeting also agreed with Foreign Minister Kasit’s proposal that there should be closer cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on capacity building and training. On Thailand’s part, the Kingdom has been working with IAEA on safety issues as well as the use of nuclear technology for food safety and medicine. As Thailand and IAEA would soon be organizing a series of workshops on these issues, the Foreign Minister also invited the other States Parties to attend.
As for the 4th Meeting of the ASEAN Political-Security Council, Foreign Minister Kasit said he had proposed to the Meeting that coordination should be enhanced within the APSC pillar, with a view to identifying what roles could be taken up by which sectoral bodies on various cross-cutting issues to avoid overlapping responsibilities. He also proposed that interested Member States could also act as Lead Shepherds to coordinate some of these cross-cutting issues to relieve the burden of the Chair and ASEAN Secretariat.
Additionally, he proposed that ASEAN should promote closer cooperation with civil society organisations (CSO), which is consistent with a people-oriented ASEAN in which all sectors of society are encouraged to participate and something which Thailand had sought to promote during its chairmanship.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th