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ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is the principal forum for security dialogue in Asia. It draws together 23 countries which have a bearing on the security of the Asia Pacific region.

Background to the ASEAN Regional Forum

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was established in 1994. It comprises 27 countries ; the 10 ASEAN member states (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) ,; the 10 ASEAN dialogue partners (Australia, Canada, China, the EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, ROK, Russia and the United States), one ASEAN observer (PNG) ,; as well as the DPRK, Mongolia, Pakistan, East Timor, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The ARF is the principal forum for security dialogue in Asia, complementing the various bilateral alliances and dialogues. It provides a setting in which members can discuss current regional security issues and develop cooperative measures to enhance peace and security in the region.

Development of the ASEAN Regional Forum

The ARF is characterised by consensus decision making and minimal institutionalisation. The 1995 ARF Concept Paper set out a three-stage, evolutionary approach to the ARF's development, moving from confidence-building to preventive diplomacy and, in the long term, towards a conflict resolution capability.

In its first fourteen years, the ARF has focused on confidence building measures and has made modest gains in building a sense of strategic community. But efforts to develop tools of preventive diplomacy and conflict management are still at an early stage.

Preventive diplomacy tools accepted by ARF members to date include an enhanced role for the ARF Chair in coordinating ARF positions so as to strengthen the ARF's ability to respond to situations affecting the security of ARF members during the period between Ministerial meetings. Another mechanism is an ARF Register of Experts and Eminent Persons which provides a pool of expertise on regional security issues that may be drawn upon by the ARF Chair or individual ARF members. Five Australian security specialists have been nominated for the ARF Register of Experts and Eminent Persons. 

Australia's Involvement in the ARF

Australia was a founding member of the ARF and has been an energetic participant in the Forum's discussions and activities. Australia has been supportive of efforts for the ARF to develop preventive diplomacy tools, including an expanded role for the ARF Chair.

Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, Australia has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure the ARF makes a practical contribution to regional anti-terrorism efforts.

Australia has also encouraged ARF to address proliferation threats and to deliver clear messages to the DPRK regarding its nuclear and missile programs.

A recent additional focus of ARF activity has been regional capacities to respond to disasters.  Australia is a member of the ARF “Shepherds’ Group” created to take forward work on disaster relief capabilities. The 14th ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting, held in Manila on 2 August, endorsed a proposal by Australia and Indonesia to co host a Disaster Relief desktop exercise (simulation) in Indonesia in 2008.

ARF meetings and processes

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has responsibility for ARF policy, in consultation with the Department of Defence. ARF meetings are held at Foreign Minister level, annually in July/August in conjunction with the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference (PMC). The chair of ASEAN, which rotates on annual basis, is also the chair of the ARF.  The principal formal ARF document is the ARF chair's statement issued after every ARF Ministerial meeting.

The ARF is supported by the ARF Senior Officials' Meeting which meets annually in May or June. Two ARF Intersessional Support Group (ISG) meetings on Confidence Building Measures and Preventive Diplomacy are also held at officials' level each year, co-chaired by one ASEAN and one non-ASEAN member. Recommendations and outcomes of these ISG meetings feed into the ARF Senior Officials Meeting. The ISG meetings provide an opportunity to plan and review a range of seminars, work shops and exercises hosted by individual ARF members throughout each year.

Second-track (non-official) institutions, such as the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) and the ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN ISIS), have been instrumental in generating ideas and inputs for ARF ("first track") consideration. The second-track institutions and networks conduct a number of seminars and working groups on regional security issues, involving academics, security specialists and officials participating in a personal capacity. Through its discretionary grants program, the Department supports the activities of AUS-CSCAP (the Australian Member Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific).

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