PRESS CONFERENCE BY FOREIGN MINISTER OF SRI LANKA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY FOREIGN MINISTER OF SRI LANKA

At a press conference at Headquarters today, LAKSHMAN KADIRGAMAR, the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka and Chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), said that two significant events had taken place on the sidelines of the fifty-third session of the United Nations General Assembly. Those were: the first-ever meeting, at a political level, between SAARC and the European Union Troika; and the first-ever meeting, at a political level, between SAARC and the Association of South-East Asian States (ASEAN).

The SAARC has been in existence since 1985, he said. Its membership -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- represented over 1.2 billion people. As a regional organization it was still developing, and its primary focus was on improving economic and social conditions in the region.

At the meeting with the European Union Troika, issues put on the table by the Union included: enhanced cooperation in the areas of banking, transit and maritime issues; the development of norms and standards of the World Trade Organization; and the protection of the environment. The SAARC had raised areas such as training for its secretariat staff and for diplomats from its member states, and projects on environmental and coastal preservation. The centrepiece of the discussion was the establishment of a SAARC-European Union fund for the purpose of financing mutually-agreed projects. The two secretariats would establish dialogue on the concept, and a SAARC delegation would soon go to Brussels to "flesh out" the details.

At the meeting with ASEAN, the two organizations agreed to conduct consultations in Geneva to try to establish common positions in the World Trade Organization (WTO). They also discussed development of exchanges of information on progress towards a free trade area, with participation of private sector representatives, the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the SAARC and ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry, undertaking a joint study of currency fluctuations, increased interaction between the ASEAN and SAARC secretariats, the establishment of links between the Internet websites of ASEAN and SAARC and people-to-people contact between SAARC and ASEAN, including the exchange of cultural groups.

The major economic preoccupation of SAARC at present was the completion of the South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement dealing with more than 2,000 commodities, he said. Additionally, a very significant step was taken last year when the heads of state and government of SAARC agreed to move towards the establishment of a free trade area. A regulatory framework for this was expected to be signed in 2001.

In response to a question about the limitations imposed on regional cooperation by bilateral tensions, which SAARC's charter did not allow it to

Sri Lanka Press Conference - - 29 September 1998

discuss, he said that tensions had hindered cooperation, but that the most recent summit in Colombo this year had been marked by a stronger impetus towards cooperation and moves towards creating concrete cooperative measures.

In response to a question about the effect of the emergence of two new nuclear powers in the region, he said that the Indian Ocean Peace Zone, which Sri Lanka promoted during the cold war to keep the two superpowers out of the Indian Ocean, was now passé. However, Sri Lanka believed in the necessity of total global nuclear disarmament.

The SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting, which had also taken place in New York in parallel to the General Assembly, he explained in response to a correspondent's question, had concerned itself primarily with SAARC housekeeping matters.

Asked whether the European Union-SAARC meeting had discussed globalization, he said the meeting had taken the form of a "get-to-know-you" dialogue. The important outcome was that the two bodies had chosen to cooperate. More detailed dialogue would probably occur at the next meeting between the two organizations.

The meeting that took place in New York between the Indian Prime Minister and the Sri Lankan President had been a meeting of friends, not a substantive discussion of any particular issues, he explained in response to a question.

In response to a request for details about the SAARC-European Union fund, he explained that the range and the size of the fund would probably be determined on the planned mission to Brussels. The recent meeting had covered the concept and the purpose of such a fund, which was to finance technical cooperation and development projects in the region.

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