ASEAN ministers to meet in Phuket

BANGKOK: Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Phuket on February 20 and 21 for a two-day “retreat”, officials said today. Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Rattakit Manathat said the meeting would have no set agenda, but was likely to follow up on issues explored at the ASEAN summit in Brunei last year. Measures to enhance cooperation between the 10 members of the Southeast Asian grouping would also be addressed, he said. “It is also possible that they will talk about international crime, drugs and East Timor’s [status] in ASEAN,” he added. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The first such ministerial retreat was held in the Myanmar capital, Yangon, last year.