Vietnam set to join ASEAN

Vietnam set to join ASEAN

HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam expects to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year and there are no political or economic obstacles to membership, Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam said yesterday.

ASEAN foreign ministers agreed in July to give Vietnam active support to become a full member in 1995, he told Reuters in an interview.

Vietnam will be the first communist member of the association -- which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- and, on entry, will have the weakest economy.

"Economically, there is a certain disparity in the level of development between Vietnam and the ASEAN countries," Cam said. "Politically there are some differences in political regimes."

He said China supported Vietnam's membership and was itself trying to improve relations with ASEAN.