Thai Foreign Affairs- Press Release

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Subject: Thai Foreign Affairs- Press Release.


                            Press Release

No. 485/2538                              Information Department
Dated 26 July 1995                        Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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Subject   Press Conference given by the Permanent Secretary for Foreign
-------   Affairs on the 28th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
          (Unofficial Translation)

          With the forthcoming Twenty-Eighth ASEAN Ministerial 
Meeting (AMM) which is scheduled during 29-30 July 1995,
followed by the second ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
on 1 August 1995, and Post Ministerial Conferences (PMCs)
between 2-3 August 1995 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, M.R.
Thep Devakula, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of
Thailand, on 24 July 1995, talked to the Thai press after
attending the Standing Committee and Senior Officials
Meeting on the same day  as follows;

          1. The ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting was the
preparatory mechanism for the 28th AMM. At the same time, 
there  was the ASEAN Standing Committee Meeting which had
considered several issues on trade and economic cooperation
among the ASEAN members. As for the Second ARF Meeting, it
will consult and exchange views on the security and
stability in the region, pursuing that of the First ARF
Meeting in Bangkok in 1994.

          2. When asked whether ASEAN should welcome Myanmar
as a member after the release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 
M.R. Thep Devakula stated that Myanmar is part of the
Southeast Asian community and it was the intention of the
ASEAN-founding countries to include all the 10 Southeast
Asian countries as  members of ASEAN. Therefore, all the ASEAN
members, including Thailand, welcome Myanmar's  accession 
to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. However, the granting 
of an observer status to attend future ASEAN Ministerial
Meetings is not automatic.  Myanmar's application for an
observer status would have to follow the same procedures as
those applied with Vietnam and Laos.  Indeed, if all
the requirements are satisfactory, it is likely that Myanmar
would be an observer at the next AMM in Indonesia in 1996.

          3. When asked if the release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi 
was the result of ASEAN's Constructive Engagement Policy, 
M.R. Thep Devakula responded that ASEAN never exclusively
claimed that credit but ASEAN believes that the Constructive
Engagement policy had contributed significantly to the
overall changes and developments in Myanmar.


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