BEIJING, June 11 -- Foreign ministers from 22 Asian countries will
issue a declaration on Asian cooperation and a document on energy cooperation at
a meeting later this month.
They will jointly issue a declaration on Asian cooperation and the Qingdao
Initiative, which is
under the framework of energy cooperation among Asian
countries, during the third foreign ministers' meeting of the Asia Cooperation
Dialogue (ACD) to be held in Qingdao.
An official from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, on condition of anonymity,
made the remarks here Friday at a press briefing.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao announced at a regular press
conference on Thursday that the third ACD foreign ministers' meeting will be
held in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province on June 21-22.
The closed-door foreign ministers' meeting will review the progress in
various fields within the ACD framework over the past two years, explore the
direction for the ACD's development and exchange views on international and
regional issues, the official said.
He said a Chinese leader is expected to attend the opening ceremony of the
meeting, which will be announced by a Foreign Ministry spokesman at an
appropriate time.
On the sideline of the meeting, the China-ASEAN foreign minister's informal
meeting and the first meeting of the Three Party Committee of China, Japan and
the Republic of Korea (ROK) will also be convened. Both are also closed-door
meetings, he said.
The China-ASEAN foreign ministers' informal meeting is the first meeting of
China and ASEAN foreign ministers since the two sides established a strategic
partnership. He said the foreign ministers will have an exchange of views on the
international and regional situation, discuss ways to deepen China-ASEAN
relations, introduce their respective development strategies, work out a planof
action, and set up a working group.
The first meeting of the Three Party Committee of China, Japan and the ROK
will be presided over by the Japanese side, which willfocus on the
implementation of the Joint Declaration on the Promotion of Tripartite
Cooperation issued by leaders of the threecountries last October, and discuss
the responsibility, organization and operation mechanism of the committee.
ACD, founded in June 2002, is the only official dialogue and cooperation
mechanism open to the entire Asia. Enditem
