2nd ASEM summit planned in 1998

2nd ASEM summit planned in 1998

TOKYO (Reuter): Senior European Union officials said yesterday they had decided with Asian counterparts to hold a second Asia European Meeting (ASEM) summit in April in London next year.

The first summit was held in Bangkok early last year.

Officials told reporters they discussed trade and investment issues, stressing the need for further liberalization and set timetables for further meetings.

ASEM links Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, China and South Korea with the 15-Member European Union.

Asked about China's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Gerard Depayre, EU deputy-director general for Commercial Policy with the Far East, said China should join as quickly as possible but that it should fulfill WTO conditions and obligations.

"We are confident that the process has been reactivated and we have had positive indications from the side of China," he added.

Beijing's decade-long bid to join the WTO has also been held up because it wants to join on the terms accorded to developing countries, which are considered to be much easier.

China says this would give it more time to adjust but some countries such as the United States insist that China's economy is too big to be afforded developing country treatment.