(VOVworld) – Closer links and greater unity are important to all ASEAN members, ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said yesterday at a press conference at the bloc’s headquarters in Indonesia. Reviewing the 45^th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, follow-up meetings between the bloc and its partners, and the 19^th ASEAN regional forum, Pitsuwan said ASEAN members have reached consensus on ASEAN connection and integration toward the community in 2015 and issues related to the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. ASEAN and its partners have agreed to boost cooperation to ensure peace, security, and stability.

The secretary underlined that ASEAN is a united bloc but needs even closer ties, adding that current East Sea disputes are complicated and require time and the good-will of all related parties to be peacefully settled in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Pitsuwan expressed his hope that ASEAN’s continued efforts will achieve needed refinements in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea at November’s ASEAN summit in Cambodia on the occasion of the Declaration’s 10^th anniversary. ASEAN is considering accepting for East Timor’s membership by 2015.