Singapore- Asean and its dialogue partners have adopted the Singapore Declaration of the 15th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held here Thursday (24/07) and reaffirmed their individual and collective commitment to build upon the achievements of the ARF and strengthen dialogue and cooperation in existing and new areas to maintain and promote regional peace and security.
The countries that participated in the 15th ARF were the Member States of ASEAN, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, and the United States.
Among others points, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, who chaired the 15th ARF, said the ministers attending the forum agreed to:
* Further the development of appropriate Preventive Diplomacy concepts, in line with the ARF‘s decision in 2005 to move it from the Confidence Building stage to the Preventive Diplomacy phase, while ensuring that future development would continue to be based on the values and roadmap contained in the 1994 ARF Concept Paper, 2001 ARF Concept and Principles of Preventive Diplomacy, and Paper on the Review of the ARF;
* Strengthen the existing ARFs organisational mechanism, including that of the ARF Chair, Friends of the Chair (FOC), ARF Unit and ARF Fund, through the mobilization of more resources, manpower and expertise;
* Commit to undertake concrete and practical cooperation to address issues of common interests, with the view to build capacity, develop expertise and enhance coordination in areas that can contribute to the regions collective security objectives;
* Enhance the cooperation, coordination and operational familiarity among its defence officials and operational agencies;
* Enhance further the engagement between Track I and Track II in the ARF, as well as partnership ties between the ARF and other regional and international organisations particularly by exchanging ideas, experiences and best practices;
* Promote greater awareness and understanding of the ARFs achievements, and its relevance to people in the ARF region as well as enhance the visibility of the forum, its objectives and activities, in promoting regional peace and security; and
* Further cooperate to strengthen and develop the ARF, its mandate, and its activities so that the ARF can serve as the premier regional security forum in the Asia-Pacific region.
Source: http://www.bernama.com (25 Juli 2008)