Bangkok (VNA) – Vietnamese DeputyPrime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh urged ASEAN member states tobolster their partnership inregional nuclear safety and security during a meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 30.

Minh was inthe Thai capital to attend the Meeting of the Southeast Asia NuclearWeapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Commission, as part of the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-52) and related meetings, which runs from July 29 to August 3.

In his remarksat the meeting, the Vietnamese Deputy PM highlighted the commission’s significant role in ensuring the absenceof nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction in the region.

Minh said hewants ASEAN to improve capacity and preparedness to prevent and respond toradiation emergencies, calling for strengthened coordination among specialisedagencies in nuclear power and in disaster relief and response in the region.

At the same time,ASEAN needs to heighten the SEANWFZ’s role and contributions to international efforts in preventingthe proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction andpursuing nuclear disarmament, he told the meeting.

Minh calledfor greater efforts from ASEAN toremove barriers in order to enable five states with nuclear weapons to sign theProtocol to the SEANWFZ Treaty.

During themeeting, the ASEAN countriesaffirmed the significance of the SEANWFZ Treaty and expressed desire and determination to keepSoutheast Asia free of nuclear arms and all other weapons of mass destruction.

They agreed tostep up efforts to implement the Plan of Action to Strengthen theImplementation of the SEANWFZ Treaty from 2018 – 2020.

The stateswill comply with the undertakings in the SEANWFZ Treaty by promoting theuniversalisation of international agreements related to disarmament andnon-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cooperating in ensuringnuclear security and safety, and using nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

They willcontinue consultations with the five states with nuclear weapons on joining the Protocol to the SEANWFZTreaty to assure these states agree to respect the nuclear weapon-free Southeast Asia.

They willfoster cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and otherinternational bodies with relevant resources and expertise to seek theirsupport for the implementation of the provisions of the SEANWFZ Treaty andpromote the SEANWFZ’s position in the world stage, particularly in the UnitedNations.

They will pushforward the signing of a cooperation agreement between the ASEAN Network ofRegulatory Bodies on Atomic Energy (ASEANTOM) and IAEA in September andencourage concerned bodies in ASEAN to take part in the implementation of thetreaty’s provisions.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)include 10 member states – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar,Laos, the Philippines, Singapore,  Thailand and Vietnam.–VNA