ASEAN to cancel meet

ASEAN to cancel meet

SINGAPORE (Kyodo): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will have to give up a plan to convene a meeting between its trade ministers and their Japanese, Chinese and South Korean counterparts in Brunei in early September due to the Japanese minister's schedule, according to Brunei government sources.

The sources said Japanese International Trade and Industry Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto decided not to attend the planned meeting as he will run in an election for president of his Liberal Democratic Party, the largest force in Japan's three- party ruling coalition, on Sept. 22.

The Japanese trade ministry will send a senior official to Brunei on Saturday to formally report on Hashimoto's decision, Japanese government officials said.

ASEAN had planned to hold the meeting between the trade ministers of its seven members, including newly admitted Vietnam, and those of Japan, China and South Korea on Sept. 10 on the occasion of its annual ministerial.