Jakarta – The government has urged the House of Representatives to ratify immediately the Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone in Southeast Asia (NWFZ-SEA) treaty.

"Indonesia hopes to become the seventh country after Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Vietnam to ratify the treaty so it could be applied in July," Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told House Commission I on foreign affairs and information Monday.

Alatas said Indonesia's ratification of the treaty is a key point in implementing the treaty.

The treaty, adopted by leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during their 1995 summit in Bangkok, could not be implemented unless it is ratified by seven countries in the Southeast Asian region.

"Indonesia and the other countries in the region are determined to make Southeast Asia a nuclear-free zone," he said.

Alatas also said the treaty realizes one of the goals of Southeast Asian countries, which is to materialize the Zone of Peace, Free and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) declared several years ago.

He also stressed that Indonesia does not want to miss becoming one of the seven Southeast Asian nations to ratify the treaty, since the eighth will not be a deciding country.