ASEAN shall play "global" role in tackling global challenges: Ban Ki-moon Posted: 19 Nov 2011 02:53 AM PST BALI, Indonesia, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Asia and the ASEAN should assume a global role in tackling global challenges, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday on the sidelines of the 6th East Asia Summit. Ban also welcomed the Joint Declaration of Comprehensive Partnership between the UN and the ASEAN, which was passed earlier in the day at the 4th UN-ASEAN Summit. Ban said he talked with leaders of all Summit participating countries on a whole array of issues, including an enhanced role of the ASEAN in dealing with regional and global challenges, and achieved a lot during his Bali trip. "Now it is the moment for Asia and ASEAN in particular to step into a truly global role... The world needs Asia to fully engage the challenges on our hands," he said at a press briefing. He said the issue of disaster risk reduction was prioritized when he visited three Asian nations this week. "Across Asia, recently we've seen a series of major natural disasters-- Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, record flooding in Pakistan, tsunami in Japan and the following crisis at Fukushima, and now the Thailand... We need to do more, much more, to reduce the impact of natural disasters," he said. Meanwhile, Ban said the issue of daily disasters, namely "the relatively small and concrete hardships experienced by too many people in their daily lives, especially the health issues of women and children," also topped his agenda. "The world has changed greatly since Asia began its rise. The old formulas for growth and well-being of our people no longer applied. We must find a new path with creativity and far vision. Working together, the ASEAN and the UN can create a future we want, a future our people deserve, all the world's people," he added. When asked about the process of ASEAN Community building and the problems the ASEAN is facing, Ban said "there are some skepticism that whether we will be able to meet the target by 2015, but with a strong political leadership role supported by adequate resources, I think this is still drawable." Ban also said he planned to visit Myanmar "as soon as possible" after talks with Myanmar President Thein Sein. "He invited me so I accepted his invitation," he said. The 19th ASEAN Summit and related Summits were held here on Nov. 17-19, gathering leaders from 18 countries and the UN to discuss a wide range of issues impacting the region. The ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam. |
Flood relief distribution in Cambodia ends, all evacuees return home Posted: 19 Nov 2011 02:53 AM PST PHNOM PENH, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had completed the distribution of flood relief items to all the flood-stricken families, and all the flood evacuees had returned home after the floods totally subsided, a senior disaster official said Saturday. "The distribution of the emergency relief goods to the victims is over--all 350,000 affected families with some 1.47 million people had received the items," Keo Vy, cabinet chief and spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management, told Xinhua. "Whilst all the 51,000 families who had been evacuated to higher grounds since August have returned home." "Life returns normal now and the floods have entirely dried," he said. Cambodia has suffered the worst flooding in more than a decade since August and 18 cities and provinces have been submerged. At least 250 people were killed by the floods. According to the reports of the National Committee for Disaster Management, the floods cost the country about 521 million U.S. dollars, mainly the damages of rice paddies and roads. During the flood period, a number of foreign countries and charitable organizations including Japan, China, South Korea, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, the United States, France, Australia and Myanmar as well as the United Nations agencies and Asian Development Bank had provided flood relief assistance to the country. |
Backgrounder: 18-nations East Asia Summit Posted: 19 Nov 2011 02:52 AM PST BALI, Indonesia, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The sixth East Asia Summit holds on Saturday in conjunction with the 19th ASEAN summit, where two new members, the United States and Russia, will join for the first time in the 16-nation grouping. The East Asia Summit (EAS) is originally an annual gathering of 10-member ASEAN and six other East Asia countries, including Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. Established in 1967, ASEAN, which groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, forms the core of the broader EAS. In October 2010, ASEAN leader agreed at the end of the 17th ASEAN Summit to invite the US and Russia to join the EAS in 2011, which increased the number of ASEAN dialogue partners to eight. Relief measures for floods and other natural disaster will be a top agenda item for this year's EAS. Leaders will discuss how to recover their economic growth and prevent future natural disaster for the good of the whole region. Also on the agenda for the summit will be how the region and its trading partners will cope with the global slowdown in economic growth while Asia continues to show the strongest growth of any region. |
Chinese metal firm to invest 500 mln U.S. dollars in Cambodia Posted: 19 Nov 2011 02:52 AM PST PHNOM PENH, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's Guangxi Nonferrous Metal Group has planned to invest 500 million U.S. dollars in a steel plant and an industrial zone in Cambodia in the next three years, Yang Daoxi, vice chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said on Friday. Yang made the announcement during a meeting with Cambodian Minister of Industry, Mine and Energy Suy Sem. He said the Guangxi Nonferrous Metal Group had already invested 30 million U.S. dollars in exploring iron ore in Roveang district of Preah Vihear province in northern Cambodia and the exploration had successfully completed. "Now, it is the phase of iron ore exploitation and the firm is to build a steel plant and later an industrial park in Cambodia," he said. "My visit is to ask for full support from the ministry in order to find a proper location to build the plant." "I hope that the project will be a good pattern of cooperation between Guangxi and Cambodia," he said. Suy Sem said the ministry fully supported the project and he would advice a proper location for the firm to build the plant. "The project will be a huge benefit to Cambodian economy. I will support and facilitate all requests from the firm in order to achieve this ambitious project." The minister said that in order to meet the production capacity when the plant is built, the ministry has provided other four areas rich in iron ore to the company to exploit. Yang, accompanied by a group of Guangxi investors, arrived here on Thursday for a five-day visit. |
NATO service member killed in Afghanistan's restive south Posted: 18 Nov 2011 11:57 PM PST KABUL, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- A NATO soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in restive Afghanistan's southern region on Friday, the military alliance said on Saturday. "An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service member died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan yesterday," the NATO-led ISAF said in a statement. However, the brief statement did not provide details on the attack and the nationality of the victim, saying "it is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities." Troops mainly from the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia have been stationed in southern Afghanistan known as Taliban hotbed. Militancy has been rampant since May this year when Taliban militants announced to launch spring offensive in the war-battered Afghanistan. Over 520 foreign soldiers, most of them Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year. |
Flood relief distribution in Cambodia ends, all evacuees return home Posted: 18 Nov 2011 10:35 PM PST PHNOM PENH, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had completed the distribution of flood relief items to all the flood-stricken families, and all the flood evacuees had returned home after the floods totally subsided, a senior disaster official said Saturday. "The distribution of the emergency relief goods to the victims is over--all 350,000 affected families with some 1.47 million people had received the items," Keo Vy, cabinet chief and spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management, told Xinhua. "Whilst all the 51,000 families who had been evacuated to higher grounds since August have returned home." "Life returns normal now and the floods have entirely dried," he said. Cambodia has suffered the worst flooding in more than a decade since August and 18 cities and provinces have been submerged. At least 250 people were killed by the floods. According to the reports of the National Committee for Disaster Management, the floods cost the country about 521 million U.S. dollars, mainly the damages of rice paddies and roads. During the flood period, a number of foreign countries and charitable organizations including Japan, China, South Korea, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, the United States, France, Australia and Myanmar as well as the United Nations agencies and Asian Development Bank had provided flood relief assistance to the country. |
Bomb blast injures 4 soldiers in S. Philippines Posted: 18 Nov 2011 10:18 PM PST DAVAO CITY, Philippines, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- An improvised bomb believed planted by leftist rebels exploded in southern Philippines early Saturday wounding four government soldiers, the military said. Troops from the army's 25th Infantry Battalion were conducting patrol at Kalinugan, Casoon village, Monkayo town, in Mindanao's Compostela Valley province when they were hitting by a makeshift landmine around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, said Lieutenant Colonel Lyndon Paniza, spokesperson of the army's 10th Infantry Division. "Four soldiers sustained shrapnel wounds and immediately evacuated to the regional military hospital in Davao City while pursuit operation against the rebels continue," Lieutenant Colonel Paniza said. The military official condemned the recent incident as the New People's Army's persistent defiance of the internal ban in the use of pressure-activated explosives as stipulated in the Geneva Convention. The 4,000-strong NPA, armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting a 42-year leftist insurgency in 60 Philippine provinces. |
2 policemen killed, 3 injured in airstrike in E. Afghanistan Posted: 18 Nov 2011 10:13 PM PST GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Two Afghan policemen were killed and three injured when the warplane of NATO-led forces mistakenly targeted a police checkpoint in eastern Ghazni province, police said on Saturday. "Two policemen with Afghan National Police (ANP) were killed and three others injured when their checkpoint was attacked erroneously by international forces' plane at about 00:30 local time Saturday," provincial police chief, Zarawar Zahid told Xinhua Saturday morning. Zahid said an investigation was launched to probe the incident in the province 125 km south of capital city of Kabul. In an unrelated incident, two militants were killed Saturday morning when their bomb went off prematurely in country's eastern Nangarhar province. "Two militants were busy in planting a roadside bomb along a road in Pachir Wa Agam district but their explosive went off prematurely at around 04:00 a.m. (local time) Satruday killing them on the spot," administrative chief of Pachir Wa Agam district of Nangarhar province, Azizullah Shinwari told Xinhua. The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group announced to launch spring offensive from May 1 against Afghan and and over 130,000 NATO-led troops stationed in Afghanistan. Taliban militants as part of tactic have resorted to suicide attacks and roadside bombings which often claim civilians. Four civilians were killed as a motorbike bomb went off in Uruzgan province 370 km south of Kabul on Thursday night, according to provincial officials. |
ASEAN, India stress need to rev up cooperation at Summit Posted: 18 Nov 2011 09:57 PM PST BALI, Indonesia, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The 9th ASEAN-India Summit was concluded here on Saturday where leaders from 10 ASEAN states and India emphasized the importance of furthering ASEAN-India cooperation. The summit attended by heads of state or government of the ASEAN countries and the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh mainly discussed ASEAN-India cooperation related to connectivity, people-to-people contact, economic and trade relations, and efforts to narrow the development gap among ASEAN states. Special attention was focused on a number of issues such as enhancing cooperation in disaster management and response, combating transnational crimes, and food and energy security. The summit also deliberated over further actions to implement the Plan of Action 2010-2015 and considered the progress report of the ASEAN-India Eminent Persons Group on the .practical steps to deepen and strengthen ASEAN-India relations. Surin Pitsuwan, the Secretary General of ASEAN, was also in attendance. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam. |
China, Japan, S.Korea eye further progress in trilateral cooperation Posted: 18 Nov 2011 09:44 PM PST BALI, Indonesia, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of China, Japan and Republic of Korea (ROK) held a trilateral summit in Bali of Indonesia on Saturday to explore ways to further trilateral cooperation and discuss regional and international issues of common concern. Speaking highly of Japan's role in hosting a trilateral summit in May, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that summit made positive contributions to cooperation among the three nations. Wen said he would continue to exchange views with the other two leaders on major issues of common concern, and strengthen communication and cooperation among the three sides. Wen also welcomed the attendance of Shin Bong-kil, the first secretary general of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, which was established in Seoul last September as a standing organization. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda thanked the Chinese and South Korean leaders for visiting Fukushima during the trilateral summit last May. The visit greatly encouraged Fukushima residents and promoted trilateral cooperation in nuclear security and disaster prevention, Noda said. He said that at Saturday's summit, the three sides would review their cooperation and hold "candid" discussion on the regional and international situation. Echoing the two leaders' remarks, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said that the three nations have conducted positive cooperation in various areas and made headway in mechanism construction. As uncertainties in global economy persist, close cooperation among the three nations will not only be conducive to East Asia's stability and development, but also contribute to global economic growth, he said. Later in the day, the three leaders will also attend the 6th East Asia Summit, which will also gather leaders from ten ASEAN member states and India, New Zealand, Australia, Russia and the United States. |