MANILA, Philippines - The United States wants the Expanded ASEAN
Maritime Forum (EAMF) institutionalized to allow the annual meeting of 18
countries belonging to the East Asia Summit (EAS), including the 10 ASEAN
(Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member-states.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State Joseph Yun said on Friday that the EAMF conference could be conducted
after the yearly ASEAN Maritime Forum (AMF).
The expanded forum is composed of
18 countries, including the US and the ASEAN members, with the same format of
the EAS.
“And so when we joined EAS last
year we became a member of expanded maritime forum. Although it has not been
decided whether this format will continue, certainly our country will be very,
very supportive of that. We would welcome this becoming institutionalized,” Yun
said.
The 1st EAMF hosted by the
Philippines was held in Manila on Friday. It was chaired by Foreign Affairs
Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio and was attended by delegates from various
governments and non-government groups from the EAS participating countries
Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian
Federation, US, the ASEAN Secretariat, and the 10 ASEAN member-states.
“The ASEAN Maritime Forum is
already institutionalized. What I was hoping this too will similarly be
institutionalized so each time ASEAN meet we also meet for expanded
discussion,” Yun added.
In the chairman’s statement, the
Philippines said the 1st EAMF was convened in response to the statement of
ASEAN leaders, as well as the leaders of the EAS, in Bali, Indonesia in
November 2011, who encouraged a “dialogue involving EAS participating countries
to utilize opportunities and address common challenges on maritime issues,
building upon the existing ASEAN Maritime Forum.”
They also “positively noted the
proposal of convening an expanded AMF, back-to-back with the future meetings of
the AMF, to include countries in the wider East Asia region.”
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