US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK4695

UNCLAS BANGKOK 004695 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, TH 
SUBJECT: ASEAN PROPOSAL FOR AN ENHANCED PARTNERSHIP WITH 
THE U.S. 
 
REF: STATE 133155 
 
1.  (SBU)  Poloff delivered points contained in reftel to MFA 
Department of ASEAN Affairs Director Nopporn Adchariyavanich 
on July 20.  Nopporn noted that the Thai proposal for an 
enhanced ASEAN-U.S. partnership had been raised at the 
ASEAN-U.S. Dialogue in Washington last month and has the 
approval of the other ASEAN members.  Nopporn said that at 
the Vientiane ASEAN conference later this month Thai Foreign 
Minister Kantathi will call for establishment of a 
comprehensive ASEAN-U.S. strategic partnership that will go 
beyond political and security relations to include economic, 
trade and cultural ties.  Nopporn said that the RTG will call 
for an agreement with mutually agreed upon, long term 
timelines and goals for the relationship. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Nopporn said that with a statement of support for 
the Thai proposal by the U.S. side at the Vientiane 
Ministerial, the ASEAN-U.S. Informal Coordinating Mechanism 
should be tasked at its next meeting in the U.S. this October 
with drafting the partnership document.  Nopporn said that 
based on earlier ASEAN partnership agreements with China, 
Japan and India, the drafting process should take 
approximately a year. 
BOYCE