ASEM Summit must not fail: KL

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 | Source: AFP

MALAYSIA: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will not object a lower-level Myanmar delegation to the Asia-Europe (ASEM) summit in Vietnam because it does not want it to fail, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Thursday.

He was commenting on a remark by Thailand's Foreign Minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, who said on Wednesday that ASEAN would be satisfied if Myanmar sent Foreign Minister Win Aung.

European Union (EU) states agreed earlier this month to attend the Oct. 8-9 summit in Hanoi but said they did not want to see the top leaders of the military-ruled Myanmar there.

"We do not want the Asia-Europe summit to fail. There is a bigger picture for us to achieve. The level of representation is not the fundamental issue," Syed Hamid told reporters.

But Syed Hamid said it was up to Myanmar to decide on the level of representation and nobody should set conditions for the admission of new members into the ASEM process. -- AFP

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