SE Asia moves closer to historic charter

---

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (right) shakes hands with North Korea's Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chin during a courtesy call at the Presidential Palace in Manila Monday.

MANILA, July 30 (AFP): Southeast Asian nations moved closer Monday to approving a historic charter to bind the region's half billion people closer together for the economic and security challenges of the 21st century.
Facing increased competition from China and India, and threats from militant insurgencies bubbling across the region, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plans to create a fully integrated economic zone by 2015.
Diplomats said they had broken a deadlock on creating a regional human rights body but left the contentious details to be worked out later, with just a few weeks remaining before the charter is adopted in November.
"Our collective desire to bring social justice, economic opportunity and integrated security to the region is our common ground," Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said in her opening address, urging nations to finalise the deal.
"There are no short cuts or quick fixes," she said. "I commend to you the important task of following through on the commitments that we have made."
The charter, which the bloc approved in principle in January, will transform ASEAN into a European Union-style grouping with rules and norms to which all 10 nations will have to adhere.
It will also help unite the bloc as it gets ready to establish a regional free trade zone by 2015 -- a target that some analysts have said may be too ambitious.
Fierce opposition from Myanmar had scuttled initial plans for a regional human rights commission, but diplomats said an agreement had been reached in talks held early Monday -- even if the hard details had yet to be ironed out.
"We have agreed to establish a human rights body," said Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, adding that country leaders would now have to negotiate its fine points.
"Myanmar takes a positive attitude towards these developments," Yeo said.
Myanmar's ruling junta has flouted calls to free Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and move swiftly to restore democracy, and the ASEAN bloc has been embarrassed by past failures to influence the behaviour of the generals.
Analysts say the inability to get Myanmar to move forward goes to the heart of the issue of the new charter, and whether or not countries will be able to force each other to observe the bloc's new rules.
In her opening address, Arroyo put the focus on plans to create a massive free trade zone and transform the region into a unified economic powerhouse.