(VOVWORLD) - Maintaining peace and stability in Southeast Asia is the foundation for ASEAN to become an epicenter of growth while keeping the region free of nuclear weapons.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Affairs Retno Marsudi made the statement while chairing the Meeting of the Commission of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (SEANWFZ) on Tuesday in Jakarta.
The SEANWFZ meeting and dialogue with representatives of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) are the first items on the agenda of the 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM-56) and related meetings.
Ambassador Vu Ho, acting head of the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM ASEAN), said that the commitment by the countries holding nuclear weapons to a nuclear-weapon-free Southeast Asia is based on, first, the consensus among ASEAN members and then among ASEAN and the five countries with nuclear weapons.
Second is rationality, which means the participation in the Treaty of Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone should be voluntary and without reservation to the provisions of the Treaty, he noted.
"Finally the joining process must also be conducted in accordance with ASEAN's procedures and regulations as well as international law to ensure the effectiveness and validity of the Treaty for not only 10 ASEAN members, but also non-member countries. “The treaty remains the central point and ASEAN remains the central point in all these processes,” said Ambassador Ho.