ASEAN-U.S. meeting to discuss disaster control, flu prevention

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(Posted by CAAI News Media)

BANGKOK, Nov 03, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The ASEAN-US Summit to be held after the Singapore APEC meeting in mid-November will discuss topics such as non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, disaster management, A/H1N1 flu influenza control, a Thai official said Tuesday.

The 90-minute Asean-US summit is scheduled for November 15 at Singapore's Shangri-La Hotel and will be co-chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the current ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Chairman, Boosara Kanchanalai, Director of Division 4 of Department of ASEAN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, told a press briefing.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) leaders' meeting will be held on November 14-15 in Singapore.

It is expected that non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, disaster management, A/H1N1 flu influenza prevention, climate change, anti-terrorism will be discussed at the Singapore-proposed summit, she said.

"It's not a permanent meeting but was temporarily decided short time ago, " the director said. "Leaders of ten ASEAN member countries have confirmed to join the meeting."

Details of the agenda and the joint statement will be worked out later this week by the Philippines, the coordinator for the Asean-U.S. meeting, Thailand's Nation news network earlier said.

The ASEAN-US Summit was first planned in September 2007 in Singapore but then-president George W Bush called it off at the last minute due to his tight schedule at home. Bush met ASEAN leaders three times during his tenure -- in October 2002 in Los Cabos, Mexico; in December 2005 in Busan, South Korea; and in September 2007, in Sydney. But these occasions were part of the APEC leaders' meetings, and as a result only seven ASEAN members could attend. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are not members of APEC.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has visited the area twice since she took office. The first time, she visited Indonesia and ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta in February and in July she attended the 42nd AMM/PMC meeting and 16th ARF in Thailand's southern island of Phuket. During her stay in Phuket, Clinton signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia or TAC with ASEAN members.

The U.S. secretary of state said she and U.S. President Obama believed that Southeast Asia is vital to global progress, peace and prosperity. "Southeast Asia and ASEAN are critically important to our future," she added.

Also at the summit, ASEAN and the United States are expected to discuss an ASEAN-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which was proposed by Senator Richard Lugar last month. He said an FTA should be part of a comprehensive strategy towards ASEAN.

ASEAN-U.S. trade increased from 161 billion U.S. dollars in 2006 to more than 178 billion U.S. dollars in 2008. U.S. investment in ASEAN grew from 3.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2006 to 6.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2007. The region is the sixth largest export market of the United States.