As host, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo faces the difficult task of forging a display of solidarity and renewed interest in a regional anti-terrorism campaign.

 Asean also realises it is pivotal to demonstrate that its members are ready to move beyond the enforcement level - where the group has been since September 11, 2001 - to the prevention of terrorism-related activities. This is a tall order because not all Asean members see eye-to-eye on counter-terrorism measures.

 In addition, the issue is a thorny one for the host because of its ineffectiveness in counter-terrorism despite assistance from the US, including the stationing of American special forces units in the Philippines. Manila's decision in July 2004 to pull its troops out of Iraq was criticised by the US as kow-towing to terrorism. Philippine-US relations, which had been outstanding, were put on ice and have been thawing ever since.

 The Asean convention will help Manila's image in the sphere of counter-terrorism and improve its beleaguered ties with the US.

 Initially, some Asean members, especially Singapore, were not happy with the move to sign a regional convention, because of fears it would overlap with the broader campaign at the UN level. The world body has been trying to conclude a UN Convention on Terrorism. Recently however, there have been some changes of heart by Singapore that will enable the host to say with confidence that Asean can forge an anti-terrorism convention. If Asean can pull this off, it will be considered a milestone in efforts to improve the grouping's much-neglected "pro-active" side.

 In the past four decades Asean has chosen to respond to new developments in passive and defensive ways. Asean leaders seemed to respond better after an issue had reached the crisis point, or when specific problems occurred, as they could gauge the level of their commitment. As a rule, preventative measures are hard to come by among Asean members. Those agreed to previously - such as the anti-haze and anti-HIV/Aids campaigns - have not yet been fully implemented. The recent air pollution caused by forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan are a case in point. Asean agreed in 2002 to tackle haze as a group, but the Indonesian parliament has yet to ratify it, delaying joint action by Asean further.

 Next month, senior Asean officials will meet to agree on a draft text of the convention, which aims to promote and improve cooperation in anti-terrorism activities such as the extradition of terror suspects, exchange of information and tracking and prosecuting of terror suspects. Not all Asean members have bilateral extradition treaties. One exception is Thailand and Malaysia, which have a very active extradition programme. Strictly speaking, this draft convention is an attempt to combine and expand on current Asean cooperation - agreed in their first joint communiqué on counter-terrorism in 2002 - meagre as that may be. For the moment, Asean does not have a comprehensive, legally binding set of measures on how to fight terrorism.

 When the Asean leaders first met in May 2002 in response to the events of September 11, 2001, they agreed that each member should be pragmatic as far as implementing preventative measures to address the root causes of terrorism were concerned. They did not envisage that there was a real need to forge a common strategic and preventative effort on counter-terrorism. After all, less than half of the members suffered from acts of terrorism.

 At that time, Asean's new members were concerned. Some continue to view a common approach and wider cooperation as an infringement on national sovereignty and a violation of the principle of non-interference. If this sentiment, which has continued over the past five years, remains strong, it could eventually derail the planned convention at the summit. This also helps explain why maritime security cooperation among the Asean countries to combat terrorism has been lacking. While the Philippines and Singapore are enthusiastic regarding the scope and scale of cooperation, others, including Malaysia and Indonesia, are not. The former pair has already signed the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. This initiative allows interceptions of ships in their territorial waters. Thailand remains ambiguous on this issue, even though the Foreign Ministry last year said it considered the PSI part of the Containers Security Initiative, another anti-terrorism measure enforced globally. The US government has signalled it would be willing to accede to the Asean Treaty of Amity and Cooperation of 1976 (TAC) if all Asean members signed the PSI. However, Asean still has not reached a consensus. The US and the UK are the two remaining permanent members of the UN Security Council that have not acceded to the TAC. France will become a TAC signatory at the summit in Cebu.

 In the final analysis, the draft treaty will close legal gaps and offer a uniform regime for judicial cooperation and prosecution of terrorism within Asean. It also covers more ground than instruments Asean has signed with other countries.

 Kavi Chongkittavorn