JAKARTA (ASEAN Features) -- It's back to basics for foreign service officers from four new members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

            For them, going back to the classrooms to "learn the ropes", or the ASEAN-way of handling things, is an important assignment. Their job is to help close the gap between the older and new ASEAN members, especially in human resources development, where they are far behind the first six: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

            Recently, 20 foreign service officers -- six women and 14 men --gathered at the ASEAN Secretariat here in Jakarta for a training of trainers workshop for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  All participants were foreign service officers from mid-career level to the deputy director general rank.

            What is the significance of this workshop?

            "We have this big gap between the older and new members. The most important is human resources development (HRD). Because we are new, we need to develop our HRD,” says Kham-Inh, 45, deputy director, political and security division, ASEAN department, of the Lao PDR's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

             After Cambodia joined as the tenth ASEAN member in April 1999, ASEAN immediately took steps to hasten the integration of the new members into the association. In an informal summit in Singapore in November 2000, the leaders launched the Initiative for ASEAN Integration or IAI to help the four integrate into the group's economic cooperation scheme more quickly.

            One of the IAI priorities is HRD. The recent workshop in Jakarta was the realization of that priority with support from the Japan-ASEAN General Exchange Fund or JAGEF.

            "The focus of the workshop is to give technical and management building skills. The modus operandi is practical hands-on exercises with case studies, simultaneous at their own MFAs, and role playing in dealing with dialog partners," explains Dr. Arunasalem Rasappan, the training manager.

            Dr. Arunasalem, 48, a Malaysian national and executive director of Applied Research Training and Development (ARTD) in Kuala Lumpur, says he developed an eight-module syllabus based on a needs assessment of the four new ASEAN members. The eight modules are Strategic Management/Training Management, ASEAN Affairs, Management Dialog Partners and Relations, Interpersonal Skills, Project Formulation and Management, Project Management and Evaluation, Meeting Management and Office Management.

            Another workshop attendee, Suth Dina of Cambodia, sees the workshop as a means to set standards in the effort to close the gap.

            "This program can set a standard for CLMV and bring us into the activities of ASEAN. Because if we have different training, we can't have a standard," says Suth Dina, 31, deputy director of the Asia I department of Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

            Nguyen Xuan Thuy of Vietnam cites two modules meaningful to him. "The four new members face a common problem of human resources. Here we learn how to formulate projects and understand ASEAN affairs. We also build a teamwork spirit during the learning course that would be good for us," says Xuab Thuy, 49, deputy director general, ASEAN department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.                      

            All participants in the training are already looking ahead on their role as a trainer when they get back home. After the Jakarta workshop, the participants will hold in-country workshops at their ministries with initial held from Dr. Arunasalem's team. Two tiers of instructors will be formed with two trainers assigned to each module. Over a two-year period, training will have covered the entire ministries of foreign affairs of each country. (ASEAN Features)