November 6, 2001	Tuesday	Shaba’an 19, 1422

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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Brunei), Nov 5: Southeast Asian leaders issued a blunt warning about mounting civilian casualties in Afghanistan, and unveiled wide-ranging plans to haul the region out of a severe economic downturn, as they wrapped up an annual summit here on Monday.

The economic plans included a proposal for a mega East Asia free trade zone, including China, Japan and South Korea and covering a market of more than two billion people.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) faced the biggest challenges in its 34-year history, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the summit chairman said.

“The two-fold challenge of addressing a severe world economic slowdown while contributing to international efforts to combat terrorism is without precedent,” he said in a closing statement.

The unprecedented expression of concern “for the welfare of innocent people as a result of military action in Afghanistan” was reached behind closed doors by the leaders of the diverse 10-nation grouping which insists on consensus.

The statement came a day after the United States stepped up the bombing campaign on Afghanistan.

In a joint statement on Sunday, Asean condemned terrorism and pledged to cooperate in the war against the menace, but refrained from mentioning the controversial airstrikes.

The Asean is torn between support for the United States, its largest trading partner and to which it looks to as a force of stability, and sympathy for Muslims who make up more than half of the 500 million people in the region.

Singapore and the Philippines had backed the US-led strikes, while Malaysia and Indonesia have called for a halt to bombings, particularly during Ramazan.

“We raised many ideas on how to address the issue,” Bolkiah said of terrorism, but did not elaborate on the differing views on the US strikes.

His summit-closing statement said that in responding to “strategic challenges” Asean leaders agreed on the need to “identify new priorities and respond decisively to longer-term challenges facing Southeast Asia”.

New priorities include an economic integration initiative amid the “worrying developments” of a decline in foreign investment in Asean countries.

“These concerns have been compounded by the global economic downturn and further uncertainty arising from terrorist attacks in the United States.”

The challenges offered an opportunity to accelerate regional integration and push “the frontiers of our economic cooperation beyond existing commitments for free trade and investment areas”.

The proposal for a giant free trade zone was “bold yet feasible”, the sultan said, and an expert panel was to study the idea. The Brunei ruler said there was agreement for a roadmap on Asean integration, with initiatives involving liberalization of trade and services, transport, tourism, communications and exploring the potential for barter trade.

Efforts would also be made to narrow the development gap to allow the lesser developed economies of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to gain tariff-free access to developed Asean markets before the earlier agreed date of 2010.

The 10 leaders adopted an ambitious four-year programme to combat a regional HIV/AIDS epidemic.

They warned if measures weren’t taken to reverse the spread of the disease, “the number of people infected is likely to increase through risk behaviours, which are exacerbated by political, social and economic vulnerability factors in the region”.—AFP