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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
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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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