Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Distinguished, Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It. is my distinct honour and privilege to join for the first time this distinguished gathering of the ten ASEAN Foreign Ministers. I should also like to express, on behalf of my delegation, our deep appreciation to H.E. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai for the wise counsel he gave us in his inaugural speech. To the Government and people of the Kingdom of Thailand, let me also convey our sincere gratitude for their generous hospitality arid the excellent arrangements for our Meeting. I hope that the holding of the 33rd AMM in the birthplace of ASEAN will give fresh impetus to our efforts to realize ASEAN Vision 2020.

May I also extend my Heartfelt congratulations to His Excellency Surin Pitsuwan on his election as Chairman of this Meeting. He guided the work of ASEAN so masterfully during the past year that I am totally confident lie will lead our deliberations to a fruitful conclusion. I also extend a warm welcome to our distinguished Colleague from Papua New Guinea who is here as a Special Observer.

Mr. Chairman,

I am very much pleased to note the substantial progress in the implementation of the Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA) since the ASEAN Leaders adopted it at their Fifth Summit in Hanoi in December 1998.. As our Leaders will. review the progress of its implementation at their 2001 Summit, we should use the time remaining to mobilize more resources and technical expertise to expand and intensify our cooperation activities in the context of the HPA.

It would therefore be appropriate for us to develop, on the basis of the Hanoi Plan of Action, an agenda that would lay down the foundation for a strong and prosperous community of ASEAN nations. This would entail programmes emphasizing social development, a more expeditious economic integration, the strengthening of regional peace and security and the promotion of ASEAN dynamism through the strengthening of ASEAN cohesiveness and resilience.

At the same time we should continue to refine our strategies and dedicate ourselves altogether to realizing ASEAN as a Concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward-looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies

In the economic sphere, we should build on the positive trends in our region today so that we can ensure and sustain the recovery and rehabilitation of our economies. During the crisis, we did right in helping one another cope with its rigours. Since then, together and individually we have carried out judicious social safety net programmes. For the same purpose, we have made the ASEAN Foundation operational. Moreover, our Governments have taken effective measures to regain the confidence of our economic partners and also our own peoples by providing them vital services that helpthem weather the social impact of the crisis, as well as good governance.

Thus we have surmounted the crisis but we must remain ever vigilant and ensure that it will never again strike at our region. At the same time we must address the emerging challenges and opportunities of a new century and millennium.  

Our Dialogue Partners and international institutions such as the Word Bank, the IMF, tire Asian Development Bank and the UNDP, have been of great help to us not only in our efforts to with stand the adversities of the crisis but also in resuming our pursuit of development. With their continued, support for ASEAN, I am sure that ASEAN Governments will be able to formulate and adhere to prudent macroeconomic policies and maintain regional financial stability. May I therefore express Indonesia’s sincere appreciation forthe crucial role that these institutes are playing in the region’s economic life.

With regard to East Asia cooperation, I have no doubt that it will I flourish as our Leaders envisioned it in Manila last November. The intensification of our consultations and cooperation with our Northeast Asian Dialogue Partners, can be expected to result in a more prosperous, more stable East Asian region.

We have also made significant progress in our interregional cooperation. Through ASEM and APEC, we have established vitally important linkages with the two most dynamic groups of economies in the world. These linkages will serve us in good stead in various international forums. They also open up valuable opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in development.

In the, Asia-Pacific region, we are heartened by recent developments in the sphere of peace and security. The recent summit between President Kim Dae Jungof the Republic of Korea and Chairman Kim Jong Il of theDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea has raised our hopes for the eventual achievement of long-term peace, security and stability in the region. The new atmosphere of goodwill on theKorean peninsula that has been engendered by the Summit could very well lead to early solution ofsecurity Issues once deemed intractable. We hope to see very soon the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea contributing positively to the work of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

We also look forward to greater stability in the South China Sea as a Regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea formulated by ASEAN and China is expected to be adopted in the near future by the concerned countries. In the meantime, we urge them to continue exercising restraint and remain firmly committed to the peaceful settlement of disputes on their overlapping sovereignty and jurisdictional claims on the oasis of principles of international law and relevant provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

We in ASEAN must also continue our endeavours at confidence building. Indonesia, for its part, is determined to continue hosting the Workshop on Managing Potential Conflict in the South China Sea.

Regarding SEANWFZ, I am pleased to observe that since we inaugurated the SEANWFZ Commission exactly a year ago, implementation of the Treaty has been well underway. To ensure that the Treaty is altogether effective as an instrument of nuclear disarmament and peace, we must bid able to persuade the Nuclear Weapon States to accede to the Protocol. For this reason, we should persevere in our consultations with the Nuclear Powers.

We also urge non-regional states, particularly our Dialogue Partners, to accede to the Second Protocol to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), thereby strengthening its role as a code of conduct designed to enhance regional peace, stability,. security and cooperation.

While the ASFAN Regional Forum (ARF) remains the key forum for dialogue, consultations and cooperation on political and security concerns in the Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia is of the view that ASEAN should remain its primary driving force in order to ensure its continuing relevance to t he security concerns of all participants. Furthermore, the ARF must now move its deliberations and activities substantially forward on the basis of consensus and at a pace comfortable to all participants.

Regarding ASEAN’s external relations, I believe the regional situation demands that we in ASEAN should broaden and deepen our cooperation with our Dialogue Partners and other parties. Indeed, we should make full use of our capacity for cooperation in order to nurture and enhance the assets and resources of our region, including and especially our human resources.

For in a very real sense, the most valuable asset of the ASEAN region is its population of half a billion, every one of them capable of making a contribution to the development of the region. We can tremendously increase the capabilities of our human resources by empowering them, by fostering their technical and managerial skills, by imbuing them with social discipline and all the human qualities necessary to be competitive in a globalized world.

A close reading of the Bangkok Declaration will show a strong orientation toward human resources development. In fact, all the other major ASEAN documents, especially ASEAN Vision 2020 and the Hanoi Plan of Action, can well beregarded as an assertion of an unwavering faith in the capabilities of the Southeast Asian peoples for great achievement.

Thus, we. are called upon to exert our utmost in order to realize the tremendous potential of our peoples, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN.