Indonesia urges Russia to approve SEANWFZ Treaty
Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: Indonesia has urged Russia to approve the Treaty of Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (SEANWFZ) in order to keep the ASEAN region nuclear-free to maintain long-term peace and inclusive prosperity.
“All nuclear-weapon states must advance nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stated at the ASEAN Foreign Post-Ministerial Conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov here on Thursday.
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.”
“For this purpose, I rely on Russia to approve this SEANWFZ Protocol soon,” Marsudi remarked.
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 the deepening of cooperation in food security between the ASEAN and Russia.
Indonesia calls for a concrete collaboration to “save the world” amid the Russo-Ukrainian war.
“As a friend of Russia and Ukraine, Indonesia never stops to call for peace. Our partnership must realize this paradigm (of peace) in real actions,” Marsudi stated.
ASEAN will propose the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Strengthening Food Security and Nutrition in Time of Crises at this September’s ASEAN Summit.
“Russia’s support to this initiative is very important, considering Russia’s status as a global producer of grains and fertilizers,” she affirmed.
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.
