Vietnam to host ASEP meeting

Vietnam to host ASEP meeting

VIETNAM: Parliamentarians from Asia and Europe will meet on March
25 in Vietnam's former imperial capital of Hue for two days of
talks ahead of October's Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Hanoi.

The third Asia-Europe Parliamentary Meeting (ASEP) is a forum
for deputies from the two regions "to participate in the ASEM
process and promote their external activities", Vietnam's
National Assembly said on Friday in a statement.

"Direct contacts and dialog through ASEP will help deepen
mutual understanding and economic and political relations among
ASEM countries in general and between Vietnam and other countries
in particular," it said.

The Vietnamese parliament said holding the meeting ahead of
ASEM "will demonstrate the support of parliamentary diplomacy to
intergovernmental organizations".

The two-day ASEM summit is due to take place from Oct. 8, but
it has been put in jeopardy as a result of a dispute between
European Union member countries and the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

ASEAN wants its newer members -- Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar --
to be included in the biennial summit in return for the
participation of the 10 European Union candidate countries, who
officially join the bloc in May. -- AFP