Sri Lanka Joins Premier Asian Security Forum

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 28, 2006 (AFP) - Asia's top security forum has decided to admit Sri Lanka as its 27th participant, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Friday. The decision allows Sri Lanka's foreign minister to join the security-oriented ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) at its next annual meeting in the central Philippine city of Cebu next July. Bangladesh joined the ARF for the fist time this year in Kuala Lumpur. Their South Asian neighbours Pakistan and India are also members of the ARF, which includes the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries as well as the United States, China, Russia and Japan, among others. mba/sls/mc