Asia
The 29th Annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, involving Foreign Ministers, issued a communiqué in Jakarta on 21 July. It called for the expeditious ratification of the SEANWFZ Treaty, and for an end to nuclear testing and the conclusion of a CTBT. The Ministers welcomed the progress in the implementation of the SEANWFZ Treaty, stressed the importance of direct consultation between ASEAN, and the NWS and considered this significant progress towards encouraging the accession of the NWS to the Protocol to the SEANWFZ Treaty. In addition, a new $100 million project seeks to increase the economic empowerment of poor, rural women. Cheaper commodities also assisted these economies with declining inflation, enabling governments to focus on infrastructure development and move ahead with much-needed economic reforms. The region generally has stable governments that have introduced supportive policies to facilitate international investments and helped improve investor sentiment. The mountainous