Former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan yesterday confirmed he and three other Thai nationals had been nominated as the next Asean secretary-general.

He said a Thai selection committee had approached him.

"I have accepted the nominated. If I am selected, I am willing to serve," Surin said on the sidelines of yesterday's meeting of the Second Asean-Japan Forum for Partnership in East Asia Community Building.

"The selection has its own process. Let it run its course," Surin said.

Other candidates from Thailand include former Thai ambassador to the United Nations Khunying Laxanachantorn Laohaphan, former ambassador to the United States Krasit Piromya and the current Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Virasak Futrakul.

Current Asean secretary-general Ong Keng Yong steps down in a year. The next Asean secretary-general will be faced with the challenge of guiding the 40-year-old regional grouping into a more legally binding regional bloc as prescribed the recently established Asean Charter.

In his speech to participants at yesterday's meeting, which included academics, journalists and policy-makers from Japan and Asean, Surin urged Tokyo to do more to bridge the development gap within Southeast Asia and to strengthen research and development in the region in ways that complimented the needs of both sides.

Developing powerful research and development in Southeast Asia will be testimony both sides have fully moved away from the donor-recipient model largely defined by bilateral ties between Japan and countries in Asean, he said.

Surin pointed to the European Union and the United States, where research and development are carried out in one place and production and implementation elsewhere.

Surin said Japan's "soft power" and its track record of goodwill could help Asean make this transition.

On security, Surin said the Asean Regional Forum, Asia-Pacific's only security round table, needed to move beyond "confidence-building measures" towards "conflict management" and come up with mechanisms that addressed "conflict resolution".

He called for the establishment of "listening posts" to monitor conflict areas and other hot spots in the region and the setting up of a team of forum envoys to address issues to minimise problems.

Don Pathan

The Nation