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