MI Dery Aman, head of the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry`s Political Sub-directorate, said here on Tuesday discussions of Southeast Asia as a nuclear-free zone was a follow-up to the results of the 18th ASEAN Summit in Yogyakarta on May 7-8, 2011.
"Matters related to the nuclear-free-zone concept will be discussed exclusively on the second day of the meeting on Wednesday," Derry Aman said.
He said the matters would be discussed by the Executive Commission of Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (SEANWFZ).
"The ASEAN member countries have agreed on the nuclear free zone but the implementation of the agreement is not easy," Derry said.
But according to him, some countries had yet to agree on the transit of nuclear weapons freighters from the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China that across countries in ASEAN region.
And so does with the sovereignty and the areas where the ships will cross.
The security guarantee of the nuclear freighters has also yet to be agreed by ASEAN members.
"So in this forum that the issue will be discussed and placed on a solid footing before being brought to ASEAN ministerial meeting in Bali next July," Derry said.
Besides discussing nuclear free zone, the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting will also exchange opinions about other issues including the crisis in Korean Peninsula, South China Sea dispute, political situation in Myanmar and Cambodia, and security and political matters in each of ASEAN member country.
(T.SYS/A/O001/F001)
(ANTARA)
Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
