A S E A N Foreign Ministers Meet Next Week To Prepare For Coming Summit

[webfact]

ASEAN foreign ministers meet next week to prepare for coming Summit
By Digital Media



BANGKOK, Apr 6 - Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are scheduled to arrive in Brunei next week for a ministerial meeting to prepare for the 22nd ASEAN Summit on April 24-25.

Arthayudh Srisamoot, director general of the ASEAN Affairs Department, said the theme of this year's ASEAN Summit, "Our People, Our Future Together," reflects the significant role of people in the region in outlining the future of the regional community.

Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul will attend the ASEAN ministerial meeting on April 10-11 during which he plans to hold bilateral talks with his Myanmar counterpart on border issues between the two countries: the problem of smoke emanating from Myanmar and the arrival of Rohingya refugees on Thai soil.

Mr Arthayudh said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra who will join the ASEAN Summit later this month will emphasise enhanced economic partnership among ASEAN countries and cooperation in solving border problems including human trafficking, illegal drug trade, natural disasters and cross-border smoke. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2013-04-06

[doctorproc156]

Why is Malaysia in 2 colors? (Or more likely why is the whole of north borneo identified as Brunei?)

[JetsetBkk]

Why is Malaysia in 2 colors? (Or more likely why is the whole of north borneo identified as Brunei?)

Well spotted! I guess the graphics guy didn't do too well in Geography.

[Almera]

Why is Malaysia in 2 colors?

It isn't.

The thin piece of Thailand around Phrachuap Kiri Khan has disappeared.

[whybother]

Why is Malaysia in 2 colors? (Or more likely why is the whole of north borneo identified as Brunei?)

East and West Malaysia??

[Locationthailand]

Just a topic - just.

[maidu]

The closest they'll come to talking about environmental issues is smoky air, because everything they talk about is money-related. More smoke = turned off tourists = reduced revenue. There's no money to be made (in their view) from maintaining natural habitat or enabling wild species to survive. Perhaps if they could fathom what western planners have already figured out: A thriving natural environment is actually good for bringing in tourist dollars - then they might give habitat protection a glance. They sure wouldn't care about natural habitat just for silly reasons like animal husbandry and the soul-nourishing appreciation of 'wildness'. As it is, Asians are fighting a full-tilt war with nature, and nature is losing every battle.

Just in one small city here in northern Thailand, there are vast tracts of newly scrapped land in every direction. Some rich Chinese-Thais are buying up large properties at a frenetic pace and, without exception, every sq.meter is being scraped of anything green - in preparation of endless rows of cement block buildings stretching out to far-away hills. Next, the hills will be terraced and yet more thousands of concrete buildings will be crammed in there. ASEAN sees such things as economic improvements.

Edited April 6, 2013 by maidu

[khaowong1]

Why is Malaysia in 2 colors? (Or more likely why is the whole of north borneo identified as Brunei?)

Well spotted! I guess the graphics guy didn't do too well in Geography.

Kind of give you an idea how the summit will go, doesn't it? The Thai's are bitchin about the smoke coming out of Burma, jeez, have they looked around Chiang Rai lately? I'm pretty sure you can't blame that on the Burmese. I'm guessing this summit is just another get together, eat some good food, drink a lot and see if you can't make some under the table deals to get some more money in your bank account.

[maidu]

Why is Malaysia in 2 colors? (Or more likely why is the whole of north borneo identified as Brunei?)

Well spotted! I guess the graphics guy didn't do too well in Geography.

Kind of give you an idea how the summit will go, doesn't it? The Thai's are bitchin about the smoke coming out of Burma, jeez, have they looked around Chiang Rai lately? I'm pretty sure you can't blame that on the Burmese. I'm guessing this summit is just another get together, eat some good food, drink a lot and see if you can't make some under the table deals to get some more money in your bank account.

on the mark. ......plus members will probably get a pretty new shirt. and play some golf. But you hit the nail on the head - ASEAN is 98% about money. Environmental concerns and human rights aren't mentioned, unless they interfere with the movement of money. They should change their acronym to ASEANFOOM = 'Association of SE Asian Nations Focused Only On Money'.

[Ian Curtis]

Any ideas on what the common language will be?

[maidu]

I had a Thai g.f. who met a Burmese guy. Guess which language they spoke? Yup, English. Two small countries which have shared a border for hundreds of years, and the most useful language they have in common is from a country half a world away. Suffice to say, Thais should get a better handle on English. I just went to the main police station in Chiang Rai, and there must have been 100 employees there. Guess how many spoke a smattering of English? Zero. And every one of those folks were supposed to have studied English for at least several years at school. Oh, almost forgot, Thai teachers will grant graduation to every student, regardless of whether they learned anything.