S'pore set to get ASEAN's top job

S'pore set to get ASEAN's top job

SINGAPORE: The island state, Southeast Asia's free-trade
champion, is poised to take over the powerful ASEAN secretary
general's post as the regional bloc accelerates efforts to break
down trade barriers, and erase its lackluster reputation.

Former diplomat Ong Keng Yong, now press secretary to
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and close to the heart of
the government, is expected to assume the role and along with it,
an expanded mandate.

The appointment will be confirmed when foreign ministers from
the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet
in Brunei next week.

The announcement is to be made at the November ASEAN summit in
Cambodia when current secretary-general Rodolfo Severino ends his
five-year-term. --AFP