We, the Foreign Ministers of the State Parties to the Treaty of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone, met in Manila, the Philippines on 29 July 2007, to review the implementation of the Treaty and to consider a plan of action to further enhance cooperation among State Parties as well as non-states parties, particularly the Nuclear Weapon States.

We conducted a thorough review of the implementation of the Treaty during the 10 years since it entered into force in 1997. We expressed appreciation for the ASEAN Secretariat’s work in preparing the Stocktaking Paper on the Implementation of the SEANWFZ Treaty, and are pleased to note that the State Parties have abided by their responsibilities and obligations under the Treaty.

We reaffirmed our commitment to further enhance and promote the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone and resolved to undertake the following measures under the Plan of Action for the period 2007-2012:

• Ensure compliance with our undertakings under the SEANWFZ Treaty, including accession to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards agreements and related instruments;
• Continue close consultations to pursue the accession of all five nuclear weapon states;
• Seek cooperation with the IAEA, other international and regional bodies, other Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones, Dialogue Partners and other friendly states, in developing legal framework to meet international standards on nuclear safety, establishing regional networks for early notification of nuclear accidents, developing a regional emergency preparedness and response plan and strengthening capacity building in the region on nuclear safety issues;
• Jointly draw up specific work programmes/projects to implement the Plan of Action.
  

We expressed our appreciation to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, H.E. Alberto G. Romulo, for organising and hosting the Meeting of the SEANWFZ Commission and for ably steering, as Chairman of the Commission, the conduct of the review of the SEANWFZ Treaty and the adoption of the Plan of Action for the SEANWFZ for 2007-2012.

We welcomed the election of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore, H.E. George Yeo, as the incoming Chairman of the Commission of the SEANWFZ on 30 July 2007 and expressed our confidence that the Plan of Action to Strengthen the implementation of the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone would be vigorously pursued under his able chairmanship.


July 6th, 2012