E&OE
23 July 2008
ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference
Subjects: Myanmar, Peter Lloyd
STEPHEN SMITH: I am very pleased to be here as Australia’s Foreign Minister. Australia has a very strong commitment to engagement in Asia; a very strong commitment to engage with ASEAN. These ASEAN-related meetings are very important to us. Yesterday, we had a very successful East Asia Summit meeting, which I was very pleased to be part of. I am off in a few moments to the Formal ASEAN Post Ministerial Consultation between ASEAN and Australia. And tomorrow, of course, we have the ASEAN Regional Forum.
Just to comment on a couple of matters. You may have seen that overnight I have announced an Australian contribution of a further $30 million of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar. This further assistance follows on from the $25 million contribution that Australia made in the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. We made this further contribution because we are very pleased with the progress that ASEAN and the UN have made in conjunction with Myanmar and after preliminary consideration of their joint post-Nargis assessment. It is a good step we are taking to render humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar. So we hope that the ASEAN actions, including through the ASEAN–UN–Myanmar Tripartite mechanism, continue. So we very pleased to announce this further $30 million contribution.
For Australian media, can I just make some remarks about Mr Peter Lloyd who has, of course, been charged with some serious drug offences. Australian officials continue to render consular assistance to Mr Lloyd. Australian officials have had consular access to him and access will continue this afternoon. He is currently in a remand centre and continues to receive medical assistance for the serious eye infection that he has. As far as the advice that I have from our officials, his medical condition or the treatment of his medical condition is appropriate and that’s continuing. And, he has been rendered all the usual consular assistance. He has received legal advice and saw his lawyer yesterday, and I understand that his employer is also making available legal advice to him. His discussions with the Singapore authorities continue and that, of course, is a matter between him, his lawyers and the Singapore authorities.
Yesterday, I met with my Singapore counterpart and I thanked him on behalf of Australia for ensuring the regular consular access. I’ve also satisfied myself in discussion with Australian officials that everything we can do for Mr Lloyd is being done. We are now simply awaiting the normal, judicial and legal process to continue.
QUESTION: From your understanding will he get a family visitor?
SMITH: My understanding is that the family is currently making a travel plan to Singapore. Again I have asked our officials both at the point of the departure and here in Singapore to ensure that they are afforded all the usual assistance. So, from Mr Lloyd’s perspective I hope that he can see his family as soon as possible.
QUESTION: Any words on the progress that has been made over North Korea?
SMITH: During the general conversation that we had in the East Asia Summit yesterday, we continued to urge North Korea to satisfy the international obligations that we have placed on it . We believe that North Korea should satisfy the Security Council resolution. We continue to support the UN Security Council and the other international efforts. We hope that the six-party talks come to a successful conclusion. I have also made the point in the past that if those six party talks see some North Asia regional security arrangement emerge, that Australia would absolutely have an interest in pursuing discussions along those line. But in the first instance, we hope that there can be a successful conclusion to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, but that requires North Korea discharging its obligations to the Security Council and to the international community.
QUESTION: Are you involved in meetings this morning with the US and Myanmar?
SMITH: I certainly wasn’t involved firstly, and I can say that, on Myanmar, yesterday I had a conversation with Myanmar Foreign Minister Win and I made all the points to him that I’ve made publicly. Australia very much urges Myanmar to return to a democratic state. We very much want to see Myanmar conduct an election which is full, free and fair, where all political parties including Aung San Suu Kyi have participation and where the outcome reflects the will of the Myanmar people, who want to see Myanmar return to respect for human rights and the rule of law. We want to see democracy return to Myanmar.
QUESTION: What kind of reaction did you get from him?
SMITH: I think it would be best described as ‘the usual Myanmar reaction’. He was, of course, very gratefully appreciative of Australia’s humanitarian assistance to Myanmar. I made the point to him that we were disappointed with the refusal of Myanmar to allow international access in the first instance following Cyclone Nargis. We were very pleased the ASEAN effort in conjunction with the UN and Myanmar has seen the delivery of international assistance.
[Ends]
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