The 6th ASEAN-Japan Counter-Terrorism Dialogue

February 8, 2011
Japanese

The 6th ASEAN-Japan Counter-Terrorism Dialogue, which will be followed by the working-level meeting, will be held from Wednesday, February 9 to Friday, February 11 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The 6th Dialogue will be co-chaired by H.E. Takaaki Kojima, Ambassador in Charge of International Counter-Terrorism Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan; and H.E. SIENG Lapresse, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Interior of Cambodia. H.E. SAR Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of Cambodia, and H.E. Pol. Gen. NETH Savoeun, Commissioner-General of the Cambodian National Police will be present, as will officials from Japan, all ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat.
This Dialogue follows the agreement at the ASEAN-Japan Summit Meeting held in December 2005, and has been held annually since then. It is a forum to not only exchange views about the current terrorism situation, but also to identify areas which need further cooperation. The past Dialogues have formulated concrete projects which benefit the counter-terrorism efforts in this region, and implemented those by utilizing the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). It has received high praise from ASEAN Member States, including at the Japan-ASEAN Summit meeting last October, as a major framework for promoting progress on regional cooperation in the area of counter-terrorism. As ASEAN integration makes steady progress, terrorism is considered as the major impediment which could undermine ASEAN efforts to enhance “connectivity.” Therefore, toward 2015, continuous and further Japan-ASEAN cooperation for this area is expected to be assured.
Note: The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Dialogues were held in Jun. 2006 in Tokyo; Sep. 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Oct. 2008 in Luang Phabang, Lao PDR; Aug. 2009 in Nha Trang, Vietnam and in Jun 2010 in Bali, Indonesia respectively.

(*This is a provisional translation. The above date denotes the date of the issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

(END)