Statement by His Excellency Alberto G. Romulo
Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary
and Chairman of the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting

Today, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers were briefed by the High Level Task Force on the progress of their work on preparing a draft ASEAN Charter.

We thanked them for their work and proceeded to discuss, in retreat format, specific issues relating to the drafting of the ASEAN Charter.

We discussed a number of issues. We agreed on several provisions and referred others for further work by the HLTF.

I am pleased to announce that among the issues on which there was consensus among the ASEAN Foreign Ministers is the inclusion of a provision in the ASEAN Charter that mandates the creation of a human rights body.

We have instructed the HLTF to include this provision in the draft Charter.

I would like to personally thank the ASEAN Foreign Ministers for their friendship and support, for which I credit the success of our discussions.

Thank you.

Posted on 31 Jul 2007