Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos to hold summit later this month
PHNOM PENH - Leaders from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos are scheduled to meet later
this month for the their second informal summit in Ho Chi Minh City.
The summit will be held Jan. 26 and deal with boosting ties and cover current developments in the Greater
Mekong Subregion, according to a senior government official.
The last ''Friendship Meeting among the Prime Ministers of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia'' was held in 1999
in Vientiane. It was originally proposed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during an Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bangkok in 1995.
The idea for the summit initially raised eyebrows among ASEAN members who were worried that the three
nations were moving to become a block within the association. But then Lao Foreign Minister Somsavath
Lengsavad said the meeting would not conflict with the interests of ASEAN.
The leaders intended to hold the summit every year but economic issues and busy schedules got in the
way, the official said.
Currently, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Koydo News - January 05, 2002.
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