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.