South-east Asian nations are keen to join the "post-Kyoto" greenhouse gas emissions pact that Australia and five other Asia Pacific countries announced in Laos last week, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Sunday. Australia joined the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and India in forming the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. The agreement was announced in Vientiane at a meeting of the 10 members of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their major regional trade partners, DPA reported. Downer said the ASEAN countries were enthusiastic about joining the pact and acquiring technologies to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. "The ASEAN governments were asking me whether it would be possible for them to become involved in this partnership in time, and I made it clear that once we've worked out how we want it all to come together we, in principle, would be very happy to see ASEAN countries become involved," Downer told national broadcaster ABC. "Because, you know, their economies are growing and they are significant emitters as well, although not on the scale of China, India or the U.S.," he added. The six partners are to meet in Adelaide, the South Australian state capital, in November to thrash out what is currently, according to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, nothing more than a "vision statement".
