17-member Asian cooperation forum ends 1st meeting

Asian Economic News, June 24, 2002

CHA-AM, Thailand, June 19 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING) Ministers from 17 countries in East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East agreed Wednesday in southern Thailand during a half day of talks to move forward with a new forum for cooperation initiated by Thailand.

''The view was widely shared that Asia can enhance regional stability and prosperity by fostering more dialogues,'' Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said in his chairman's statement issued after the inaugural Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) forum, held at a resort hotel on Cha-am beach, some 200 kilometers south of Bangkok.

The inaugural ACD meeting was participated in by foreign ministers from Thailand, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. Brunei, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Qatar were represented by other ministers.

The chairman's statement also stated the ACD ministers ''recognized the need to ensure the ACD will serve to complement existing cooperative mechanisms and arrangements and for the ACD to be result-oriented, action-oriented and driven by positive thinking.''

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in a speech declaring the ACD forum open, said it is intended ''to forge a common strategy to build from our vast resources of manpower, wealth of skills and dynamism in order to overcome the challenges of the new century.''

Thaksin said Asian countries ''must learn to trust, confide and work together for our mutual benefits, not viewing one another as competitors, but rather as partners and allies.''

''Asia is like a giant holding company with many diversified entities, each with its own individuality and creativity. The uniqueness of each Asian entity, when combined, becomes an enormous asset for Asia as a whole. Through our diversity, we are able to create a great flexibility of response and greater strengths for one another,'' he added.

Thaksin said his ACD initiative was borne of his awareness of Asia's past prosperity and ''the fact that Asia today has started to lag behind other regions despite our enormous potential.''

''The ACD aims to provide a non-institutionalized arrangement for the exchange of ideas and experiences. As a region-wide dialogue, the ACD will compliment existing cooperative frameworks, and will create synergy among bilateral, multilateral, sub-regional and regional strategic partnerships in the areas of common interests,'' he said, denying it is intended as a trade bloc.

At the Cha-am launch of the ACD, the ministers identified key areas of cooperation they were keen to work out including poverty alleviation, human resources development, and bridging the digital divide.

Surakiart told a news conference held after the half-day launch that the ministers agreed to set up working groups to explore works to be carried out in each area of cooperation which is not necessary to be participated in by every ACD member in every cooperative area.

They also agreed to appoint Thailand as coordinator for the informal consultation process to further develop the ACD initiatives including consultation on future geographical coverage of the ACD in the spirit of inclusiveness.

''The dialogue was of the view that participation in the ACD should be on an inclusive basis, and that the ACD should proceed incrementally, beginning with 'easier' issues before moving on to more difficult ones,'' the chairman said in the statement.

The ACD ministers also agreed to increase cooperation in multilateral fora such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, according to Surakiart.

However, the Thai foreign minister said at the press conference the ACD members would try, if possible, to forge common positions among them in major directions that they all can agree upon and lend more weight in the international stage.

Surakiart also expressed satisfaction at the participation of some countries have outstanding conflicts. ''I'm glad to see countries that may have some conflicts started to talk about cooperation in various fields without raising issues of conflicts at all, which to me personally is very good start.''

Thailand will host the next ACD ministerial meeting in June next year in Chiang Rai, the northernmost province of the kingdom.