Though India and Pakistan were not named in the statement issued on behalf of the ARF by the Chairman, Prof S Jayakumar, Foreign Minister of Singapore, the reference was apparent (it was directed at the ``states which had tested nuclear weapons last year'' and it makes a mention of ``the Lahore process''). It was a part of the seven-page statement issued here today at the end of the sixth meeting of the ARF.

The ARF meeting here was held under the grim shadow of the continuing stand-off between China and Taiwan and the role of the US. The issue dominated not only the discussions but also the statements which were traded today.

Regarding South Asia, the ARF statement called upon the nuclear weapon states to make further efforts towards achieving the ultimateobjective of eliminating nuclear weapons. It mentioned that there were strong calls by the foreign ministers for all states to sign and ratify the CTBT and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as soon as possible.

Soon after, the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh said, ``While the NPT is a no-entry zone for India and there is no change in the stand on that, the overall deliberations at the ARF meeting had been an unqualifying success and the ARF Chairman's statement echoes India's priorities, concerns and approach.'' Despite the reference to CTBT, the ARF release does mark a significant departure from the phraseology of the statement issued at Manila after the last ARF meeting from which the Indian delegation had to disassociate itself.

The ARF statement which makes a reference to the need to deal with the illegal accumulation of small arms, did not mention either the Kashmir problem or the Kargil issue. The Forum, which consists of the 10 ASEAN countries and the 10 dialogue partners, includingUS, Russia and China, is the most diverse international gathering outside the US.

Earlier Tarja Halouen, Foreign Minister of Finland, issued a significant statement here on behalf of the European Union (EU). The statement welcomed the de-escalation of the latest hostilities and the disengagement of the infiltrators across the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan. The EU urged both India and Pakistan to respect the inviolability of the LoC and to prevent any kind of infiltration across it. It asked both to resume their dialogue in accordance with their bilateral commitments and in the spirit of the Lahore Declaration. On Kashmir, it wanted them to respect the LoC and to ``work together to end all external support to militants in Kashmir and to bring about an improvement in the human rights situation there.''

Disarmament in South Asia was the focus of more than one participating foreign minister at the ARF. The EU also called upon India and Pakistan to refrain from further development ofballistic missiles and from deployment of missiles in their military forces. ``We call upon them not to develop or deploy either nuclear weapons or their delivery systems.'' The EU urged the two to sign the CTBT at the earliest and to apply stringent controls to the export of sensitive materials, equipment and technology.

In her speech at the ARF today, the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright also urged both India and Pakistan to avoid steps that would lead to an arms race. She expressed the hope that they would sign the NPT and support negotiation of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty in Geneva. Russian Foreign Minister Ignor Ivanov in his statement said ``it was necessary that all states, first of all the `threshold' countries sign the CTBT and NPT.'' He made no reference of the irritants in South Asia.

Referring specifically to South Asia, Albright urged the ARF to ``serve as a regional rallying point for effective international action to deter and disrupt terrorist networks and to oppose those whofinance, harbour and support them.'' She said the Forum had a distinctive contribution to make in this region's fight against trans-national crime.

Significantly, the statement of Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxum also did not make any reference to either India or Pakistan. It only stated that all disputes should be resolved between states through peaceful means.

Besides the key specific issues which were discussed during the ARF meeting, the foreign ministers accepted the offer of the ASEAN to prepare a paper on the concept and principles of ``preventive diplomacy'' which would be discussed at its next meeting. This will help it to move forward from `confidence building' and ultimately towards conflict resolution,'' Jayakumar said. ``Preventive diplomacy should not be confused with crisis management or forcible intervention and it is to bring about the clarity in approach that this preliminary work has been initiated,'' a spokesperson for ARF said.

Tomorrow, discussions on non-security relatedeconomic and other issues will continue between members of the ASEAN and their dialogue partners.