[December 09, 2008] ASEAN ministers to formalize ASEAN Charter in Jakarta+ Tweet (Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) JAKARTA, Dec. 9_(Kyodo) _ The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will hold a foreign ministers meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta next Monday to mark the entry into force of its Charter, the ASEAN Secretariat said Tuesday. The group earlier planned to formalize the ASEAN Charter when Thailand holds an ASEAN summit meeting initially set for Dec. 15-18 in Chiang Mai. The summit was postponed as a result of political unrest in Thailand. The idea to hold a foreign ministers meeting to formalize the Charter that binds 10 Southeast Asian nations together as a community came from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week. "The entry into force of the Charter is a historic milestone for the organization, repositioning ASEAN to better meet the challenges of the 21st century," ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said in a press statement. The statement also said the meeting will be followed by a special meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers to discuss a new date for the postponed 14th ASEAN summit and other matters. Thailand has proposed to hold the rescheduled summit in March, while Singapore suggested it to take place next month. In his proposal, Yudhoyono also offered the resort island Bali as a venue for a proposed ASEAN finance ministers meeting on the Chiang Mai Initiative, a safety net aimed at helping participating countries fight speculative attacks on their currencies. Designed to address short-term liquidity problems in the region, the initiative was established by ASEAN together with its three Asian dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea. The web of bilateral currency swap arrangements is now worth about $80 billion. The ASEAN-plus-three member countries have agreed to turn the facility into a multilaterally operating fund. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Copyright ? 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]