Sunday, 16 January 2011

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia

The Senior Official Meeting (SOM) of ASEAN member countries was held in Hotel Santosa, Lombok on January 15, 2011—where the officials including representative of ASEAN Secretariat discussed several pressing issues in the ongoing construction of ASEAN Community. This was the first of such a meeting at SOM level during Indonesia’s tenure as ASEAN Chair in 2011. The meeting in Lombok was chaired by Djauhari Oratmangun, the Director General of ASEAN’s Cooperation of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in his capacity as the ASEAN SOM Leader.

Among the issues discussed were topics such as ASEAN and China cooperation in the South China Sea, discussion on the nuclear free zone in South East Asia (SEANWFZ), legal instruments of the ASEAN Charter (High Level Legal Experts Group, HLEG), the Inter-Ministries ASEAN Human Rights Commission (AICHR), and the development of ASEAN Connectivity.

 First of all, security in South China Sea, ASEAN SOM leaders were reviewing the result of the Joint Working Group on DOC (Declaration of Conduct) session which took place in China last December which discussed the guidelines on the implementation of DOC. The discussion was a manifestation of ASEAN’s ways to work together in a diligent manner to seek for peace and maintain the region’s stability. The Meeting also agreed to push forward for the completion of the discussion on the said guidelines.

In addition, the Meeting also agreed to promote and advance Human Rights through ASEAN Inter-Ministries Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), and it also discussed and welcomed AICHR’s five (5) year work plan. The Meeting also agreed to continue the discussion on the completion of HLEG and its protocol and a number of aspects related to SEANWFZ that was expected to be adopted by nuclear-armed states.

The highlighted issue on economic was ASEAN Connectivity. The SOM Meeting discussed the term of reference (ToR) for the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee (ACCC), which was projected to be the basis for ACCC in supervising the implementation process of ASEAN Connectivity Master Plan that has been adopted by ASEAN Head of States in Vietnam last year.

The expectation was that ACCC would build the cooperation and partnership with the dialogue partners and organizations or other international agencies to reinforce ASEAN Connectivity for the benefit of the community in South East Asia and the region itself (source: Directorate of ASEAN Politics and Security).