ASEAN invited for dialog

ASEAN invited for dialog

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Canada, as next year's host the Group of Seven (G-7) industrialized countries, yesterday invited ASEAN to attend a pre-summit dialog to voice the views of developing nations.

Canadian Foreign Minister Andre Ouellet, on a stopover here enroute to Indonesia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, conveyed the invitation to Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Badawi, who is coordinator of the annual ASEAN-Canada dialog.

The summit of G-7 countries -- the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Italy plus Russia -- is scheduled to be held in Halifax, Canada, in June.

"This is the first time a host country of a G-7 summit has invited ASEAN to give its views," Ouellet said at the end of his two-day stay.