tempo, Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi I attended the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Committee (SEANWFZ Committee) meeting held in Vientiane, Laos on Wednesday, 24 July 2024. The SEANWFZ Committee meeting is the first meeting in the 57th AMM-PMC series.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi urged ASEAN countries to continue to strengthen efforts towards global disarmament and non-proliferation.
“The threat of nuclear weapons is growing and it is real. With several major nuclear-weapon states withdrawing from important international agreements such as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Strategic Arms Race Reduction Treaty, we are moving further away from the ideal nuclear-weapon-free world,” she said.
Furthermore, she said that any reduction in commitments by countries would have a negative impact on regional stability, and therefore she urged ASEAN to stick to its commitment to making the region a nuclear-weapon-free zone.
The Indonesian Foreign Minister also stressed the importance of ASEAN encouraging nuclear-weapon states to commit to global disarmament and non-proliferation efforts.
“ASEAN needs to cooperate with other nuclear-weapon-free regions,” Retno added. In this regard, Indonesia welcomed a training exercise to discuss reserved issues between ASEAN and OPANAL in May 2024. OPANAL is an international organization for nuclear disarmament in most of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The SEANWFZ Committee Meeting welcomed Timor-Leste’s plans to accession to the SEANWFZ Treaty, which is expected to be completed this year, and welcomed the various progress made in implementing the SEANWFZ Treaty Action Plan for 2023-2027.
Kemuru
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