Regional co-op focus of ASEAN meeting
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-28 05:51

In a chairman's statement at the end of the Sixth ASEAN+3 Foreign Ministers Meeting yesterday, the ministers said they hoped the concerned parties would find solutions acceptable to all sides to secure a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula.

The ministers also expressed their joint concern over the continued violence in Iraq and condemned recent terrorist attacks, including those in London and Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

They welcomed the recent positive developments in the Middle East and recognized the need to implement the Roadmap and the relevant UN Resolutions to realize peace in the region.

Support for UN reform was also offered by the meeting, which agreed reform should be comprehensive and consider the needs of developing countries.

They attached importance to effective leadership of the United Nations to address the needs and aspirations of people in the developing world.

Ministers said they believed it would be the turn of an Asian representative to next hold the UN secretary-general post, which will become vacant upon expiry of the term of the current secretary-general, Kofi Annan, at the end of 2006. The ASEAN foreign ministers informed China, Japan and the ROK of ASEAN's strong support for Thai candidate, Surakiart Sathirathai, for the post.