Jakarta – ASEAN leaders have welcomed Luxembourg’s intention to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a press conference after yesterday’s retreat (Tuesday).
Luxembourg will become the 55th signatory to the 1976 treaty, which serves as the code of conduct in ASEAN. Each year, more and more members of the United Nations express a desire to accede to the treaty. This year Serbia, Panama and Kuwait joined the TAC at the Jakarta summit.
Key principles enshrined in the treaty include respect for sovereignty and independence, non-interference, peaceful settlement of conflicts, non-use of force and the fostering of cooperation among the signatories.
In the chairman’s statement, the ASEAN leaders welcomed the growing interest of non-regional countries in acceding to the TAC.
France was the first European country to sign the TAC in 2007, followed by the EU and UK in 2012, Germany in 2019 and Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain in 2022.
