Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA News) - The Federal Republic of Brazil and representatives of ASEAN signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) here on Wednesday.

The TAC was signed by Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota and the ASEAN foreign ministers among others Marty Natalegawa (Indonesia), Thongloun Sisoulith (Laos), Kohilan Pillay (Malaysian deputy foreign minister), K. Shanmugam (Singapore) and Kasit Piromya (Thailand).

The first country apart from the ASEAN member states that signed the TAC was China, followed by India.

TAC is a peace agreement among the South East Asian nations which was designed by the ASEAN founders.

ASEAN groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

TAC was firstly made into effect on February 24, 1976 and signed by the then-ASEAN leaders such as President Soeharto (Indonesia), Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Hussein Onn and Thailand Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj.

The TAC was amended on December 15, 1987 which allowed the countries outside the ASEAN joined the treaty. It was re-amended on July 25, 1988 by inserting requirements to the treaty by the ASEAN member states.

The Asean summit and its related summits will take place on November 17 through 19, 2011.

The heads of state/government of the United States, Japan, China, South Korea and a special representative of New Zealand will also be present in the related summit.(*)
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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