The foreign ministers of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea expressed continued commitment to the ASEAN Plus Three process in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

The foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met with their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea at the Seventh ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

In a chairman's statement issued after the meeting, the ministers noted with satisfaction the progress achieved in ASEAN Plus Three cooperation over the past nine years, which covers 16 sectors and has 48 mechanisms to facilitate and implement cooperation.

The ministers welcomed the establishment of cooperation in four new sectors under the ASEAN Plus Three framework, namely, rural development and poverty eradication, women's issues, disaster risk management and emergency response, and minerals.

Thailand and South Korea will organize the East Asia Cultural Week separately in 2007 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN Plus Three cooperation.

The ministers reaffirmed the urgent need to address energy security issues as the increase in oil prices has highlighted the need to search for alternative sources of energy.

The energy ministers of ASEAN Plus Three are due to meet on July 27, 2006, in Vientiane, Laos, to discuss these issues.

The ministers welcomed the convening of the East Asia Summit as a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest with the aim of promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia.

The ministers reiterated their consistent position that the next United Nations Secretary-General should be selected from an Asian member state of the UN.

They also discussed preparations for the 10th ASEAN Plus Three Summit and the Second East Asia Summit, which will be held on December 11 and 13 respectively in Cebu, the Philippines.

The ASEAN Plus Three Ministerial Meeting has been held on the sidelines of the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conferences since 2000.

(Xinhua News Agency July 27, 2006)