ASEAN holds emergency meeting on Thai-Cambodian border dispute; Indonesia to send 30 observers to Thai- Cambodia border areas; Cambodia, US hold joint maritime exercise; Congress dates announced in Laos;
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    • The Foreign Ministers of ASEAN held a meeting on 22 February 2011 to discuss the possible solutions to the Thai-Cambodian border conflict. The meeting was convened at the request of UNSC. The UNSC members have already had a meeting regarding the issue in which they advised the two countries to pursue a peaceful solution to the conflict within the ASEAN framework.1

    Meanwhile reports noted that 30 Indonesian observers will be dispatched soon to the border areas near the Preah Vihear temple in order to monitor the ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand. The decision is considered as an outcome of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting held earlier.2

    Cambodia and the United States began a four day joint maritime exercise off the Cambodian coast on 27 February 2011. The stated objective of the exercise is building capacity to deal with regional humanitarian disasters.3

    The Laos communist party has paved the way for the five yearly Congress as the dates have been announced. The three day congress will choose the members of the country’s ruling politburo and endorse a five year plan among other things.4

    According to the Chinese officials, the bilateral trade between Brunei and China has jumped up by 143 percent since last year. The bilateral trade figures were revealed by Wang Jia Xin on 24 February 2011.5

    Vietnam has insisted that the owners of 50,000 tonnes of Indian corn and soymeal re-export the cargoes, which were found to be infested with insects. Indian traders, however, still hope some last minute reversion of the decision, which seems highly unlikely.6

    In other developments in the region, over 100 Malaysian protesters were arrested as they tried to assemble to protest against the government’s policies on the issue of Malaysian-Indians. The protest was planned to take place on 27 February 2011, but it couldn’t as most of the protestors were arrested. However, they were released by the police later.7

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