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New ASEAN after Myanmar cyclone: Secretary-general

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-18 16:45

SINGAPORE -- A new Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has emerged from its response to cyclone-hit Myanmar, showing the world that it can "take on the responsibility placed on it", Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said here Wednesday.

"It just so happened that we are being baptized by the Cyclone Nargis. That is the test of our new ASEAN," he told a one-day ASEAN Leadership Forum on Wednesday morning.

Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta of Myanmar and left more than 133,000 people dead or missing in early last month.

He told some 100 officials, business leaders and experts that foreign relief teams "have been given full support from the Myanmar government and reached the areas where they wanted to go."

The southeast Asian bloc, established in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Surin was optimistic about ratification of the ASEAN Charter, which was signed by member countries' leaders in Singapore summit last November.

He said the Charter could be approved by all members by the time of the Bangkok summit at the end of this year.

The Charter means to transform the 10-member bloc into a more rules-based community. Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia have yet to approve it.