ASEAN-EU meet uncertain

ASEAN-EU meet uncertain

BANGKOK (AFP): A decision over whether to postpone next month's landmark ASEAN-EU ministerial meeting due to poor EU representation may be made at an ASEAN meeting in Singapore next week, a report said on Sunday.

The meeting is to be the first since relations between the two blocs cooled over the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' decision to admit Myanmar as a member in 1997.

The Thai foreign ministry said on Friday the gathering, set for Dec. 11 and Dec. 12 in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, may have to be shifted if more European ministers say they are unable to attend.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine has confirmed he will not attend and will instead send his deputy Charles Josselin who is in charge of overseas cooperation. France holds the rotating EU presidency.

Reports have said Britain and Denmark -- among Europe's staunchest opponents of the Myanmar regime -- were not expected to send their foreign ministers.