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