KOTA KINABALU — Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have revisited a proposal for a common time zone for the group's 10 member countries, to better coordinate business links, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said here Wednesday.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman (sixth right) crosses arms and holds hands with other Asean ministers during the Asean Foreign Ministers Retreat in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on Wednesday. (EPA photo)
"With Asean forming an integrated and cohesive community by the end of this year, we believe that a common time zone for Asean capitals is an idea worth considering," Mr Anifah said at a press conference at the end of the Asean foreign ministers' two-day retreat in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Malaysia's Sabah state in Borneo island.
The retreat set the pace for a series of meetings that Malaysia will host as this year's chair of Asean.
Mr Anifah said the proposal for a common time zone was first mooted as early as 1995 and then in 2004.
In his press statement, he listed several benefits of a common time zone, including enhancement of business and banking linkages and airline operations.
There are currently four time zones among the group's 10 member countries -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Brunei are on GMT +8 hours while Thailand and the other Indochina countries are on GMT +7 hours. Myanmar is on GMT +6.50 hours. Indonesia, an archipelago with thousands of islands, covers three time zones from GMT +7 hours to +9 hours.