Cablegate: Hanoi: Arf Regional Disaster Preparedness Proposal In

VZCZCXRO7943
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0825 1980614
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160614Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8143
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 4926
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS HANOI 000825

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL EAID ARF ASEAN KNNP PARM
SUBJECT: HANOI: ARF REGIONAL DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PROPOSAL IN
SINGAPORE'S COURT

REF: STATE 74383

(SBU) On July 16, Poloff met Ton Thi Ngoc of the Vietnamese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs' (MFA) Asean Department to deliver Reftel points
on updating the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on disaster preparedness.
Ngoc said she and her MFA colleagues are studying the USG's
proposals "carefully," but that whether Asean members consider these
proposals as a group will depend on the ASEAN Chair, Singapore.
Hanoi will wait for Singapore to broach the ideas in the proposal,
not ask that the proposal be considered, she added. Ngoc warned
that "time constraints" may in the end prevent due consideration of
U.S. ideas we would like to see included in the ARF Chairman's
statement.

MICHALAK

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