Ministers yet to set informal summit date

Ministers yet to set informal summit date

JAKARTA (JP): Foreign ministers yesterday discussed
preparations for the ASEAN informal summit but have yet to come
up with a fixed date.

ASEAN Secretary-General Dato' Ajit Singh at the end of
yesterday's meeting said that there needs to be more discussion
before a definite date can be set.

"The dates have not been fixed really. There are still some
questions because they clash either with national days or
birthdays or other things," he said.

Indonesia will host an informal summit later this year in
Jakarta. Apart from the seven members of ASEAN, the three
prospective members of the organization -- Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar -- are also expected to attend.

Separately an ASEAN official revealed that ministers were
talking of the possibility of holding the summit on Dec. 2.
However the date would clash with the Laotian national day.

The official who asked not to be named further revealed that
the leaders are expected to have a free flowing discussion in
their meeting and thus no formal agenda will be presented.

Nevertheless, a general guideline of topics will be prepared
with each country being asked to present their respective "list
of subjects" about a week in advance.

Speaking of the just-concluded ministerial meeting, Ajit Singh
expressed his satisfaction of the smooth flow of discussions.

He said the biggest achievement of the 29th ASEAN Ministerial
Meeting is probably the fact that it passed without any
significant problems or controversies between the ministers.

He said he is already looking forward to next year's
ministerial meeting which will be held in Kuala Lumpur and which
is expected to be a momentous occasion since it will be welcoming
two new members -- Cambodia and Laos -- and celebrate the 30th
anniversary of ASEAN. (mds)