Cha-am gives hope for another new beginning
Thailand wants to see a real community grow
By: SARITDET MARUKATAT and THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
Published: 26/02/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The venue for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cha-am is the perfect place for members to send the message that they can get through their political and economic problems together.
The huge development gap between the 10 members - Asean groups one of the poorest and one of the richest countries in Asia - has long been a concern as to how the Southeast Asian group can effectively move forward.
This was reflected in the exhausting negotiations in the early stages of the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) when members were reluctant to sacrifice their national interests for regional interests, despite their common position that it would be unavoidable if they wanted the region to survive and remain competitive in the global economy.
Although Afta finally became operational in 2003, the tepid enthusiasm for Asean unity continues today. "I feel some members do not give priority to Asean," an Asian diplomat based in Bangkok said, but declined to say who.
One of the problems was that Thailand was under the administrative power of then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Asean seemed to be too small to serve his ambition as leader and that led to the creation of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) comprising Asian countries from the Mediterranean Sea to the west to the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan in the east.
The initiative was aimed at pulling together the strengths of all Asian countries and emerging as a global player.
Coincidentally, the first ACD meeting on June 19, 2002, took place at the Dusit Thani Hua Hin in the resort district of Cha-am in Phetchaburi. It is the same venue at which Thailand will host the Asean summit from tomorrow until Monday. Then foreign minister Surakiat Sathirathai said in his speech at the hotel that the ACD was "a new phase of Asian development".
After Thaksin was forced from power, there was no official position on the fate of his initiative, which was struggling to win over other countries. But the withdrawal of the ACD from the website of the Foreign Ministry, http://www.mfa.go.th, could answer the question of whether it has quietly died.
"The government at the time concentrated on realising the ACD. Now it's time to get back to Asean," said a government official who requested anonymity.
This time in Cha-am, junior and senior officials will start talks today followed tomorrow by meetings of foreign and trade ministers to prepare the agenda for their government leaders, who will meet on Saturday and Sunday.
Director-General of the Asean Affairs Department Vitavas Srivihok said on Monday the summit would be geared towards strengthening the interests and welfare of its members, fostering ties among the peoples of the 10 countries and setting a clear direction of turning the group into a rule-based organisation.
Thailand hoped the talks would help turn Asean into a "real community", he said.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also hopes the summit, which is chaired by Thailand, would increase international confidence in the country, battered as it has been by political turmoil which forced the most important meeting of Southeast Asia to be postponed twice last year.
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Thailand wants to see a real community grow
By: SARITDET MARUKATAT and THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
Published: 26/02/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The venue for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cha-am is the perfect place for members to send the message that they can get through their political and economic problems together.
The huge development gap between the 10 members - Asean groups one of the poorest and one of the richest countries in Asia - has long been a concern as to how the Southeast Asian group can effectively move forward.
This was reflected in the exhausting negotiations in the early stages of the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) when members were reluctant to sacrifice their national interests for regional interests, despite their common position that it would be unavoidable if they wanted the region to survive and remain competitive in the global economy.
Although Afta finally became operational in 2003, the tepid enthusiasm for Asean unity continues today. "I feel some members do not give priority to Asean," an Asian diplomat based in Bangkok said, but declined to say who.
One of the problems was that Thailand was under the administrative power of then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Asean seemed to be too small to serve his ambition as leader and that led to the creation of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) comprising Asian countries from the Mediterranean Sea to the west to the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan in the east.
The initiative was aimed at pulling together the strengths of all Asian countries and emerging as a global player.
Coincidentally, the first ACD meeting on June 19, 2002, took place at the Dusit Thani Hua Hin in the resort district of Cha-am in Phetchaburi. It is the same venue at which Thailand will host the Asean summit from tomorrow until Monday. Then foreign minister Surakiat Sathirathai said in his speech at the hotel that the ACD was "a new phase of Asian development".
After Thaksin was forced from power, there was no official position on the fate of his initiative, which was struggling to win over other countries. But the withdrawal of the ACD from the website of the Foreign Ministry, http://www.mfa.go.th, could answer the question of whether it has quietly died.
"The government at the time concentrated on realising the ACD. Now it's time to get back to Asean," said a government official who requested anonymity.
This time in Cha-am, junior and senior officials will start talks today followed tomorrow by meetings of foreign and trade ministers to prepare the agenda for their government leaders, who will meet on Saturday and Sunday.
Director-General of the Asean Affairs Department Vitavas Srivihok said on Monday the summit would be geared towards strengthening the interests and welfare of its members, fostering ties among the peoples of the 10 countries and setting a clear direction of turning the group into a rule-based organisation.
Thailand hoped the talks would help turn Asean into a "real community", he said.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also hopes the summit, which is chaired by Thailand, would increase international confidence in the country, battered as it has been by political turmoil which forced the most important meeting of Southeast Asia to be postponed twice last year.
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