SINGAPORE — The foreign ministers of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia had a “good and frank discussion” in Brunei and agreed on a way forward in dealing with the haze, Singapore’s Law and Foreign Minister K Shanmugan wrote in a Facebook post today (June 30). Mr Shanmugam also said that it is “likely that a good statement” will be issued on the haze problem later today at the main ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM). The informal meeting in Brunei yesterday afternoon was the suggestion of Mr Shanmugam with the aim of reaching a consensus between the three countries most affected by the haze on how to deal with the problem caused by forest fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island. The hour-long meeting between Mr Shanmugam, Malaysia’s Anifah Aman and Indonesia’s Marty Natalegawa took place in a hotel lounge without any aides present. “We agreed on a way forward in how to deal with the haze. It is likely that a good statement would be issued at the meeting of foreign ministers,” Mr Shanmugam wrote. “It is good that we have taken this first step to agree that concrete steps need to be taken to prevent recurrence. Of course, hereafter, implementation is key — and that has its own set of challenges.” Yesterday, Dr Natalegawa told reporters in Brunei that about 4,000 hectares are affected by the fires on Sumatra, down from the previous high of over 16,000 hectares. Indonesia’s foreign minister, however, declined to go into details of his country’s action against Singaporean companies suspected of being involved in starting the fires, saying he would leave it to law enforcement agencies. ASEAN foreign ministers are meeting at a half-day retreat today to discuss challenges facing the 10-nation South-east Asian bloc and to also address housekeeping issues, and to strengthening ties both within and outside the grouping with its dialogue partners. Singapore is represented at the meeting by both Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law, K Shanmugam and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Environment and Water Resources, Ms Grace Fu. The ASEAN foreign ministers are also scheduled to meet their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea. A closely watched discussion will be the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting between the new Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr Wang Yi, and his ASEAN counterparts with China’s approach in dealing with the disputes in the South China Sea is expected to be raised by both sides. WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHANNEL NEWSASIA