Spokesperson of the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation H.E. Chum Sounry said ASEAN is in the internal process to allow Ukraine to sign the Instrument of Accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC).
“ASEAN is in the internal process to allow Ukraine to sign the TAC. If it is arranged in time, there will be a signing ceremony during the upcoming ASEAN Summits and Related Summits and Ukraine FM has to participate,” he said in a text message to AKP.
When asked if any perspective of the Ukraine’s participation in the upcoming ASEAN Summits and Related Summits from Nov. 8 to 13, 2022, H.E. Chum Sounry said as the host country, Cambodia will provide the venue for any bilateral meetings to be held on the sidelines of the Summits, but we will not engage in arranging them.
TAC was established in 1976 and embodies universal principles of peaceful coexistence and friendly cooperation among States in Southeast Asia. It is a legally-binding code for inter-state relations in the region and beyond. The Treaty has been amended three times, in 1987, 1998, and 2010, respectively, to allow for accession by states outside Southeast Asia as well as for regional organisations whose members are sovereign states, among others. As of August 2022, there are 49 High Contracting Parties to the TAC.
Ukraine has requested to be a party to TAC since August when Cambodia hosted the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) along with the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Greece, the Netherlands, and Denmark, but Ukraine submitted the request late, therefore Cambodia as the Chair of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat could not handle this on time.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press