Southeast Asian Leaders Agree to Form Free-Trade Zone by 2015

By CARLOS H. CONDE
Published: January 14, 2007

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations made progress toward its goal of economic and political integration at a summit meeting here on Saturday, but it was sidetracked by tensions over how to deal with Myanmar, which has come under fire for its poor human rights record.

Leaders of the 10 members of the organization, known as Asean, agreed to establish a free-trade zone by 2015, intensify their fight against terrorism, protect the region's migrant workers and improve their campaign against H.I.V./AIDS. They also agreed to draft a new charter with broad enforcement powers -- a break from the 40-year-old group's tradition of consensus and noninterference.

''We want to advance the sense of community in our shared interest to look after each other in terms of justice, economic development and common security,'' President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines said during her speech at the opening of the meeting.

Mrs. Arroyo emphasized Asean's drive to expand trade, ''to create one of the world's greatest trading blocs.''

But the group failed to find common ground on Myanmar, formerly Burma. On Friday, China and Russia vetoed a United States resolution in the United Nations Security Council that criticized Myanmar's persecution of opposition groups.

''How are we going to help you if you are not making progress?'' Indonesia's president, Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono, told Myanmar's officials late Friday, according to Reuters.

Nitya Pibulsonggram, Thailand's foreign minister, told reporters on Saturday that Asean should redouble its efforts ''to see what we can do to help one another,'' to give the Myanmar issue what he called ''a regional focus'' rather than ''have it internationalized.''

Asean's new charter, which will be drafted this year, is expected to include mechanisms to monitor and enforce agreements among members, along the lines of the European Union's charter.

Two years ago, Asean formed a body called the Eminent Persons Group to create guidelines for the new charter. On Friday, it released a list of 28 recommendations, including the ''strengthening of democratic values, good governance, rejection of unconstitutional and undemocratic changes of government, respect of the rule of law, including international humanitarian law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.''

In a sense, the charter is a bid to remain relevant as the economic power of China and India grows, something the group itself acknowledged. ''While the Asean charter will bring about a long overdue legal framework, Asean must reposition itself,'' it said in a statement. ''It must address the growing challenges and opportunities of regional integration, the major shifts in the Asian landscape brought about by the rise of China and India, and Asia's widening links with the rest of the world.'' China and India are not members of Asean.

Asean leaders also signed a counterterrorism agreement that, among other things, makes it obligatory for each member country to share information about terrorist suspects and possibly allow their extradition. The accord called on members to disrupt terrorist financing and to train counterterrorism forces.

Southeast Asia is home to some of the world's deadliest terrorist groups, among them Jemaah Islamiyah, which has links to Al Qaeda, and Abu Sayyaf, a group in the southern Philippines.

Asean's members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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