Cambodia to join ASEAN on April 10

Cambodia to join ASEAN on April 10

HANOI (AP): Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are expected to gather on April 10 in Hanoi for a special ceremony to admit Cambodia, a Vietnamese government source said on Friday.

The ministers also would be expected to discuss regional issues on the sidelines of the ceremony. The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said on Friday it could not confirm yet that the date had been set.

ASEAN leaders agreed at their December summit here to admit Cambodia as the group's 10th member but delayed the induction to allow the country's new coalition government time to establish credibility.

The decision on the timing was left to Singapore Foreign Minister Shanmugam Jayakumar, who currently chairs ASEAN. He said last Saturday that he was proposing the implementation of the admission agreement.