JAKARTA (ANTARA) – Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to step up global efforts to ensure continued nuclear disarmament amid a decline in efforts by nuclear-armed states.
She conveyed this at a meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Committee (SEANWFZ Committee) as the first agenda item of the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (57th AMM) in Vientiane, Laos on Wednesday.
“The withdrawal of several major nuclear-weapon states from important international agreements has further distanced us from the ideal of a world free of nuclear weapons,” Marsudi said in a ministry statement.
She highlighted several international agreements that major powers have begun to abandon, including the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
According to Marsudi, reduced engagement by these countries will have a negative impact on regional stability, including in Southeast Asia.
“ASEAN countries must therefore remain steadfast in their determination to make Southeast Asia a nuclear-weapon-free region, no matter what challenges they face,” she stressed.
Marsudi also stressed the importance of ASEAN urging nuclear-weapon states to fulfil their commitments to global disarmament and non-proliferation efforts.
“ASEAN needs to work with other nuclear-weapon-free regions,” she stressed.
To this end, she expressed Indonesia’s support for conducting an exercise between ASEAN and OPANAL, the Latin American and Caribbean regional nuclear disarmament organization, in May 2024 to discuss reservation issues.
In addition to discussing nuclear disarmament, the SEANWFZ Committee meeting also expressed support for Timor-Leste’s accession to the SEANWFZ Treaty, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The Committee also welcomed various progress in the implementation of the SEANWFZ Treaty Action Plan for 2023-2027.
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Translated by Nabil Ehsan and Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Anton Santoso
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