The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries will discuss intensifying development of their poverty-stricken rural areas and remote areas and encouraging small and medium enterprise there.

Philippine Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Erlinda Basilio told Xinhua on Tuesday that resources will be concentrated in these areas in line with the theme of "caring and sharing ASEAN" in the forthcoming regional summit to be held from Dec. 10 to 13 in Cebu, the Philippines.

"We will intensify our work in the rural areas so that small and medium enterprises will thrive and our frontier areas will develop with the rest of the region," she said.

Rural areas and frontier areas in ASEAN countries, such Mindanao in the Philippines and Central Highlands in Vietnam, are often poorer than other regions of these countries.

Source: Xinhua