| Thailand To Host Asean Summit In March |
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BANGKOK, Dec 12 (Bernama) -- Thailand's Prime Minister in-waiting, Abhisit Vejjajiva, said he will host the delayed Asean Summit in February next year if he is elected the country's 27th premier on Monday.
The 44-year-old Democrat leader, who is moving closer to replacing Somchai Wongsawat after the latter was disqualified by the Constitution Court on Dec 2, said it was important to hold the summit as soon as possible.
"All preparations are in place and the new government should be able to host the Asean Summit in February. We want to ensure that all documents and agreements prepared for the summit will be signed," he told the local media after meeting the Foreign Ministry's director-general for Asean, Wittawat Sriwihok, Friday.
Abhisit and his party are now in an intense battle to win enough support from members of the parliament to form the new government, with smaller parties which were part of Somchai's previous coalition government now throwing their support behind Democrat.
The Asean Summit was supposed to be held from today until Dec 18 in Chiang Mai, but was postponed after anti-government protesters shut down the capital's two major airports for eight days since Nov 24, stranding over 300,000 foreign travellers and causing massive d amage to the country's economy. It was initially planned to be held in Bangkok.
Bangkok was rocked by six-month-long street protests, which saw the Prime Minister's Office seized for three months.
The protests ended after the ruling party, the People Power Party (PPP), and its two partners, Chart Thai and Matchima Thipataya, were dissolved by the court, and their executives, including Somchai, banned for five years.
Thailand had hoped to host the event in March, but there has been calls from some member countries for it to be held in Jakarta in January, including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who had said the postponement was a setback for the grouping.
On Monday, the Asean foreign ministers will meet in Jakarta to commemorate the enforcement of the Asean Charter. Abhisit said it was important to hold the summit as soon as possible due to the global financial crisis and the urgency of all member countries to convene and discuss measures to address the crisis.
Besides the summit, the 10 members are also involved in several related meetings, such as the East Asian Summit with dialogue partners China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
-- BERNAMA
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