Director General for ASEAN Cooperation Djauhari Oratmangun said here on Monday, "I can say that there is no barrier to the P5`s accession to the SEANWFZ Treaty. What is happening now is the two sides are still negotiating to arrive at a common understanding about the contents of the treaty. So this will ne only a matter of time," Djauhari said after attending a meeting between the Executive Committee of SEANWFZ and representatives of the P5 on the sidelines of the 19th ASEAN Summit in Bali.
Earlier, the Foreign Ministry`s Director for ASEAN Political and Security Cooperation, Ade Padmo Sarwono, had said Indonesia as the ASEAN chair this year would like to maintain the positive momentum towards the accession of the SEANWFZ Treaty by the P5.
SEANWFZ is a treaty among ASEAN`s ten member states to keep the Southeast Asia region free from nuclear weapons. The treaty was signed in 1995 and went into force in March 1997.
The treaty binds ASEAN member states not to develop, produce, buy or posses nuclear weapons. Members are also not to ask for or receive any assistance in the form of nuclear weapons from third countries.
The SEANWFZ protocol itself calls on the five nuclear weapon states (P5), namely Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China and the United States to respect the SEABWFZ treaty and not use or threat members of SEANWFZ with nuclear weapons.
The protocol is expected to be signed by the five nuclear weapon states but so far none of them has done so. Objections from the five countries concern the zone over which the SEANWFZ is applicable, the sovereignty factor and the assurance not to use nuclear weapons against countries that do not have nuclear weapons. (*)
(T.SYS/A/A051/A014) 14-11-2011 23:45:28
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
