Vietnamese PM to attend ASEAN summits

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will lead the Vietnamese delegation to partake in the 12th ASEAN summit and related summits from Jan. 12-15 in the Philippines, a foreign ministry spokesman announced Thursday.

Dung will participate in the 12th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit slated for Jan. 13-14, and related meetings, including the ASEAN+3 (the 10 ASEAN members with China, Japan and South Korea), ASEAN+1 meetings (the members with China, Japan, South Korea and India, respectively), and the 2nd East Asia summit, said spokesman Le Dung.

On the occasion, the Vietnamese prime minister will attend a summit among Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), and a meeting between CLMV and Thailand, he said, noting the prime minister is expected to have bilateral meetings with leaders of some countries inside and outside the ASEAN.

Leaders of 10 ASEAN countries -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- are to converge in the Philippine city of Cebu this week for the annual ASEAN summit with the theme "One Caring, One Sharing Community."

ASEAN is expected to announce a blueprint for establishing the group's charter and try to move up plans for a regional free-trade zone by 2015.

Source: Xinhua