SINGAPORE: Seven ASEAN members, including Myanmar, have ratified the grouping's Charter so far. The Charter is aimed at making ASEAN a rules-based organisation.

Speaking to the Singapore media ahead of next week's ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Singapore, Foreign Minister George Yeo is hopeful the remaining countries - Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines - will do so by the end of the year.

It has been an eventful one year for ASEAN. Its strong response to last September's crackdown on demonstrations in Yangon surprised even the foreign ministers, said the current ASEAN chairman from Singapore.

Mr Yeo said: "It was the right thing to do. After that, we had (United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim) Gambari visiting Myanmar, (extending the good offices of the UN.) I have received word recently that Myanmar has invited Gambari back to Myanmar to continue his good work later this year, after August 15. That's a spot of good news."

In addition, there were valuable lessons from ASEAN's humanitarian response in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis - among them, the need to quickly build up a disaster assistance mechanism.

ASEAN's foreign ministers will also receive a comprehensive report from the task force that has been coordinating the humanitarian and relief efforts in Myanmar following Cyclone Nargis.

Mr Yeo said the progress so far has been encouraging. He said: "No starvation, no outbreak of epidemics. Yes, still a lot to be done - people are suffering, food supplies are meagre, livelihoods have got to be restored.

"We feared the worst initially. But it turned out not to be an "F" grading. Certainly not an 'A' or 'B', but I would say on the whole, with ASEAN assistance and ASEAN taking the lead in bringing humanitarian assistance into Myanmar, we could give ourselves a "C" grading.

"We are still in the relief and recovery stage, we still have to go on for many more months. We don't want to talk about reconstruction because the moment we talk (about this), some international agencies and some Western countries are averse to it as they see that as shoring up a government which they don't like."

However, an immediate challenge is to complete the ASEAN Charter ratification process.

Mr Yeo said: "If we don't achieve that by the end of the year, then that would be a setback. But, I am not pessimistic. I believe that the reason why we have come this far is not that we are doing each other favours, but that because ASEAN is important to each and every one of us.

"Every country in ASEAN knows that (if) each does better, each is more competitive, each is more secure by there being a stronger ASEAN than there not being one. Despite domestic problems in many countries, the will to push on the ASEAN construction remains strong and unwavering."

Singapore will be handing over the ASEAN chairmanship to Thailand after next week's ministerial meeting.

Minister Yeo said that although the new Thai foreign minister has yet to be named, he is confident the Thai Foreign Ministry remains a strong institution to take on the ASEAN chair.

- CNA/ir