ASEAN ministers to meet

ASEAN ministers to meet

BANGKOK (Reuters): Economic ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in a northern Cambodian town of Siem Reap from May 3 to 5, the Thai commerce ministry said Tuesday.

A ministry official told Reuters an informal meeting, known as a retreat, would be held on March 3. The ministers would meet their counterparts from China, Japan, and South Korea on May 4.

Topics to be discussed included the promotion of information technology under a so-called e-ASEAN Initiative and plans for economic cooperation between ASEAN and Australia and New Zealand, said the official, who declined to be identified.

The ministers were expected to find ways to help recent members of ASEAN -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- forge closer economic development, he said.

Thai Commerce Minister Adisai Bodharamik would chair the Siem Riep meeting.