ASEAN to sign e-commerce pact

ASEAN to sign e-commerce pact

SINGAPORE (AP): Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, or Asean, will sign a free-trade e-commerce agreement
during an informal summit in Singapore later this month,
officials said Wednesday.

But leaders are unlikely to sign a code of conduct for the
South China Sea, where several Asean members and China dispute
possession of mineral-rich islands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
spokesman Michael Tay told a news conference Wednesday.

The ministry didn't give further details of the pact, which
they have coined an "e-Asean Framework Agreement."

Tay said Asean leaders were likely to discuss the relevance
and future of the grouping during the informal summit in
Singapore from Nov. 24 to 26.

Aside from the Asean leaders' meetings, there will be two
additional summits including the leaders of China, South Korea
and Japan.

Tay said a South China Sea code of conduct "might be signed in
Singapore" but that it was unlikely because countries were still
negotiating terms of a code for the contested Spratlys
archipelago.