13-7-2023 (JAKARTA) Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has called on Russia to approve the Treaty of Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (SEANWFZ) in order to maintain long-term peace and inclusive prosperity in the ASEAN region.
Marsudi stated at the ASEAN Foreign Post-Ministerial Conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that all nuclear-weapon states must advance nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Apart from Russia, ASEAN also pursues other nuclear-weapon states, such as China, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to sign the SEANWFZ Treaty.
The SEANWFZ Treaty, signed in 1995 by all ASEAN countries, stipulates that its signatories cannot develop, manufacture, or otherwise acquire, possess, or have control over nuclear weapons, station or transport nuclear weapons by any means, or test or use nuclear weapons.
Marsudi urged Russia to approve the SEANWFZ Protocol soon, noting that the nuclear-weapon states, except China, had expressed their objection to some parts of the SEANWFZ Treaty.
In addition to discussing the SEANWFZ Treaty, Indonesia also pushes for deepening cooperation in food security between ASEAN and Russia. Indonesia calls for concrete collaboration to save the world amid the Russo-Ukrainian war.
ASEAN will propose the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Strengthening Food Security and Nutrition in Time of Crises at this September’s ASEAN Summit.
Russia has been ASEAN’s Dialogue Partner for over 26 years, and relations between the two have upgraded to a strategic partnership in 2018. Indonesia highly expects Russia’s contribution to the mainstreaming of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and other partnerships, Marsudi stated.
