ASEAN Secretary General calls on China to discuss bilateral dialogue partnership; Malaysia and Singapore to enhance bilateral relations; Indonesia and the United States pledge to expand cooperation on global issues
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    • While addressing recently in the China-World Bank Group Conference on a Partnership and other issues of mutual interest, ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan emphasized on how ASEAN-China relationship has flourished in all sectors since the time of the complete implementation of the ASEAN-China Fee Trade Area on January 1, 2010. He also called on China to discuss about ASEAN-China dialogue partnership. Dr. Pitsuwan also pointed out that ASEAN-China combined GDP now stands at US$6.6 trillion and had a combined FDI of more than US$183 billion (16.4% of the global FDI) in 2008. He emphasized that China’s growth has benefitted the East Asian region in general and ASEAN region in particular. Dr. Pitsuwan also stated that along with Japan and South Korea, China has contributed 80% of the US$ 120 billion financial pool which is also known as the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateraisation (CMIM).1

    Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak went on a one-day working visit to Singapore on September 19. During his visit, Najib was scheduled to have meeting with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong. This meeting was to be a follow up of the initiative that both the nations laid out on their earlier meeting on May 24, 2010 aimed at enhancing bilateral relationship. It is worth noting that the May 24 meeting was historic one since it made an attempt to resolve some of the long-pending issues between the two countries, particularly on the Points of Agreement (POA) on the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) land in Singapore. September 19 meeting was expected to take further measures for the resolution of the KTMB issue, including the relocation of the KTMB Tanjong Pagar Station to Woodlands, the establishment of a joint-venue company between Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Teasek Holdings Ltd., and the KTMB land swap and its potential development.2

    However, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, while speaking at a meeting of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, on September 18, stated that both Indonesia and the US have pledged to cooperate on various global issues, including on the role of Islam and the Middle East conflict. Both the nations have also decided to cooperate on recent bilateral agreements, particularly on boosting student exchange between the two sides and fighting climate change. Natalegawa mentioned about fostering mutual understanding in resolving regional tensions as well, ranging from Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the nuclear issue in the Korean peninsula.3

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