October 22, 2009 5:05 PM

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15th ASEAN Summit begins tomorrow

The 15th ASEAN summit begins tomorrow in Thailand's central resort town of Hua Hin. The three-day Summit and related events will be attended by ten leaders from ASEAN member countries together with the leaders of the six dialogue partners including India. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will arrive tomorrow evening on a three-day visit to take part in the Seventh India-ASEAN Summit and the 16-nation East Asia Summit. In August this year, India and ASEAN signed a Free Trade Agreement on goods and now both the sides are looking forward to ink a similar pact in the field of services and investment.A significant aspect of Dr Singh's visit will be his meeting with Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the summit. Both the leaders will meet against the backdrop of increased tensions over the long-running boundary question. China recently criticized Dr Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, while New Delhi voiced concern over Chinese involvement in projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir among other issues.The ASEAN summit will adopt over 15 documents on various key issues. They include Declarations on Human Rights, Education, Climate Change and Connectivity. The draft statement on climate change reflects a unified response of ASEAN member states in addressing the problem of climate change. The statement will be significant in view of the forthcoming Global summit on Climate Change at Copenhagen in Denmark.Apart from the above-mentioned documents, the Hua Hin Statement on ASEAN plus Three Cooperation on Food Security and Bio-Energy Development and a separate Statement on East Asia Summit Disaster Management will be issued by the participating leaders.Other issues affecting the well-being of the peoples including energy security, financial stability, pandemics as well as disaster management will also be discussed in the upcoming summit.Security has been the most important issue for the host country which is trying to prevent a repeat of the April 11 Pattaya incidents when thousands of anti-government red-shirted protesters stormed the 14th ASEAN Related Summits venue and forced the cancellation of the summits. Our correspondent covering the event reports that Thailand has mobilized over 18,000 strong security forces and imposed an Internal Security Act in Bangkok and the ASEAN summit venue to prevent protests during the summit in Hua Hin.

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