JAKARTA: Asean has expressed concern over the developments in the Middle East, particularly in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A statement released by this year's Asean chairman, Indonesia, said it supported the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and urged Palestine and Israel to make way for negotiations aiming at a situation that would bring peace.
"We expressed concern over the developments in the Middle East region. We reiterated the need for a comprehensive, just, and sustainable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East region.
"We urge both sides to actively take positive steps to allow for negotiations to gain traction and work together towards the resumption of talks to achieve an enduring peace.
"We fully supported the Palestinian people's legitimate rights for an independent State of Palestine with the realisation of two states, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," it said in a statement last night.
Meanwhile, Asean called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and urged for the facilitation of rapid, safe and unhindered access to humanitarian assistance for those in need.
"With regard to Ukraine, as for all nations, we continued to reaffirm our respect for sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity.
"We reiterated our call for compliance with the UN Charter and international law.
"We underlined the importance of an immediate cessation of hostilities and the serious engagement in a genuine dialogue for the peaceful resolution of the conflict."
It said that Asean supported the efforts of the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres in the search for a peaceful solution to the issue in Ukraine.
Asean meets with its dialogue partners, such as India, China, the United States, Canada and Australia annually.
Besides that, it conducts summits involving its 11 member states with a representative of the United Nations.
Indonesia, whose chairmanship is themed "Asean Matters: The Epicentrum of Growth", said it was reaffirming the importance of multilateralism and international cooperation, underscoring the importance of Asean's partnerships with its partners such as the UN.
On Asean Political-Security Community matters, the regional bloc expressed concern over the declining commitment and cooperation in global non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament mechanisms.
It urged Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) to maintain and implement their commitments under the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), which now has more than 50 high contracting parties and which recently welcomed the accession of Serbia, Panama, Kuwait to the TAC.
"We called on NWS to fulfil their obligations in advancing nuclear disarmament in accordance with Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to recognise the need to eliminate nuclear weapons, which remains the only way to guarantee that nuclear weapons are never used again under any circumstances.
"We reiterated our commitment to preserving the Southeast Asian region as a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) and free of all other weapons of mass destruction as enshrined in the Asean Charter and the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) and stressed the importance of the full and effective implementation of the Treaty."
