East Asian summit may be held in 2005: Ong

East Asian summit may be held in 2005: Ong

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

An East Asian Summit could be convened as early as next year, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretary general Ong Keng Yong said on Wednesday, in a move that would boost the region's ambitions of forming a single community.

"Right now, I can tell you that there are at least two offers on the table to have an East Asian summit next year," Ong said in a keynote address to a forum on relations between China and the ASEAN here.

One offer came from an ASEAN country while the other was from China, he said.

The region's foreign ministers who met in Qingdao, China, this week also supported the idea of an East Asian summit, Ong said, quoting a joint statement from the meeting, but it gave no timetable for such a gathering.

Ong's remarks marked the first time that a top official had given a potential timeline for the proposed summit.

Currently, leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations, China, Japan and South Korea, meet annually under a loose framework called the ASEAN Plus Three meeting on regional cooperation.

Analysts and diplomats have said a more formal East Asian Summit would replace the ASEAN Plus Three framework and underscore the region's seriousness in pursuing a goal to achieve a European Union-style single market and community by 2020.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.