ASEAN chief insists EU meeting still on

ASEAN chief insists EU meeting still on

HANOI (AFP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) still expects breakthrough talks with the European Union to go ahead as planned in December despite the mounting crisis in Myanmar, ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo Severino said on Thursday.

Severino said the Laotian government, which is due to host the meeting, had also received no indication from the European Union that it had changed its mind about resuming the ministerial meetings which it suspended after Myanmar was admitted to ASEAN in 1997.

In Bangkok last week EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy announced that European governments were reconsidering whether the meeting should go ahead after the military junta in Yangon placed opposition leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi under effective house arrest.

He said consultations were going on within the European Commission as well as with governments of the 15 nations that make up the EU, but said no firm decision had yet been taken.