Chile, Egypt and Morocco have officially become parties of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), bringing the signatories to 35 countries.
A signing ceremony for the accession to the treaty by the three countries took place yesterday in Vientiane, following the ASEAN agreement made at the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting held in the capital in July.
The TAC entered into force in 1976, with Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines as founders of ASEAN, the initial signatories of the TAC.
The purpose of this treaty is to promote perpetual peace, everlasting amity and cooperation among the signatory countries’ peoples which would contribute to their strength, solidarity and closer relationships.
Furthermore, the treaty provides for enhancing cooperation in economic, trade, social, technical and scientific fields as well as the acceleration of economic growth in the region by promoting greater utilisation of the agriculture and industries of the nations in Southeast Asia, the expansion of their trade and the improvement of their economic infrastructure.
All ten ASEAN member states are parties to the TAC. Other signatories are non-ASEAN member countries, including China, Russia, the United States, Papua New Guinea, India, Japan, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mongolia, Australia, France, Timor, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Turkey, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.
The accession to the TAC by Chile, Egypt, and Morocco brings the signatories of the treaty to 35 and reflects the importance of the TAC as a code of conduct governing relations between states as well as the contributions of the TAC to promoting regional and international peace and stability over the past 40 years and beyond, a press release from yesterday’s signing ceremony read.
I n this regard, ASEAN agreed to consider new applications to be parties to the TAC in accordance with the guidelines on the accession to the TAC.
Source: Vientiane Times
