Downer praises ASEAN Summit

Downer praises ASEAN Summit

AUSTRALIA: Australia's participation in a Southeast Asian summit this week buried criticisms that the government's close ties with the United States was harming its relations with Asia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Wednesday.

Downer described Prime Minister John Howard's participation at the summit in Laos of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as successful.

At the summit, Howard signed an accord with the 10 ASEAN countries to launch talks early next year, aiming for trade pacts within two years.

"From now onwards, as a result of what has happened in Vientiane, could the Australian debate move on from people believing that you can't have a close relationship with the United States and sustain a close relationship with Asia?" Downer told reporters in Canberra.

"Surely that argument along with many other arguments has been buried in the last 24 hours."

Malaysia has invited Australia to take part in an East Asia Summit next year, a development Downer described as "one of the greatest events in the history of diplomacy."

"This is an enormous step forward in that great project of Australian engagement with Asia," he said. --AP