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ASEAN admits Burma and Loas in Kual



Subject: ASEAN admits Burma and Loas in Kuala Lumpur


	ASEAN ADMITS BURMA AND LAOS IN KUALA LUMPUR
	*******************************************

     Wednesday 23 July, 1997 (3:14am AEST)


          The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN today
          expands to take in its eighth and ninth members, Burma and
          Laos. 

          Cambodia's scheduled admission was postponed indefinitely,
          following the coup two weeks ago in Phnom Penh. 

          Indonesia's foreign minister Ali Alatas has said that ASEAN
          will NOT insist on helping to solve the Cambodia crisis if it is
          not wanted. 

          Mr Alatas was speaking before leaving for Kuala Lumpur in
          Malaysia, which is playing host to the ASEAN meeting on its
          30th anniversary.

          Graeme Dobell reports. 

          Burma and Laos will enter as the eighth and ninth members
          of ASEAN, but it will not be the all-encompassing regional
          event ASEAN had planned, to mark its 30th anniversary.
          The leadership coup in Phnom Penh two weeks ago means
          that Cambodia's scheduled entry has been frozen. And later
          today, the foreign ministers will debate their approach to
          Cambodia, following prime minister Hun Sen's rejection of
          an ASEAN offer to mediate. The meeting's host, Malaysia's
          foreign minister Abdullah Badawi, will also discuss the
          regional crisis with the United States special envoy on
          Cambodia, former congressman, Stephen Solarz. 

	(ABCNews, 23 July 1997)

__________________________________________________________________________

	News and Information Dept.
	All Burma Students' Democratic Organisation (ABSDO) [Australia]
	Tel/Fax: 61+03+9813 2613

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