Global downturn top ASEAN agenda

Global downturn top ASEAN agenda

BRUNEI: The global economic slowdown and U.S.-led campaign
against terrorism will dominate next week's Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, the host ministry of
foreign affairs said in a statement on Monday.

The seventh ASEAN summit will be the first meeting of all the
Southeast Asian leaders since the September terror attacks in the
United States.

Singapore and the Philippines gave their full support to the
U.S.-led military strikes in Afghanistan but the region's biggest
Muslim nations -- Indonesia and Malaysia -- have criticized the
U.S.-led attacks, which have exacted heavy casualties among
civilians.

Leaders from the 10-member regional grouping are also expected
to hold talks with their counterparts from China, Japan and South
Korea as part of the enlarged ASEAN Plus Three summits that began
in 1997. --AFP