Fourth East Asia Summit opens

October 24th, 2009 HUA HIN - Battered by the global economic crisis, the US has decided to convene a summit meeting with the influential Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next month. This "would mark a historic point in ASEAN-US Dialogue Relations", the ASEAN said at the end of its 15th summit here Saturday.

October 24th, 2009 HUA HIN - Japanese Prime Minister Yudio Hatoyama Saturday said his country desired better economic and defence ties with India. He made the observation at his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia summits in this Thai resort.

October 24th, 2009 HUA HIN - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday joined East Asia leaders to discuss regional and international issues on the last day of his visit to Thailand to take part in the Asean and East Asia summits. Manmohan Singh is a key participant in the fourth East Asia Summit that brings together the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as six partner countries including India, China and Japan.

October 23rd, 2009 HUA HIN - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here Friday night to attend the seventh India-ASEAN Summit and the fourth East Asia Summit here during the weekend. The summit meeting between India and the 10-member Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is due to be held Saturday.

October 23rd, 2009 HUA HIN - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday pledged to deepen India's wide-ranging relations with East and Southeast Asia as he prepared to take part in the seventh India-Asean Summit and the fourth East Asia Summit in this Thai resort. In a statement ahead of his departure from New Delhi and also released here, Manmohan Singh, who will arrive here later Friday, said he also planned bilateral meetings with leaders with seven countries including China.

October 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India was hoping to take its 'Look East' policy to another level in terms of cooperation and economic growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday before leaving for Thailand to attend the 7th India-ASEAN Summit and the 4th East Asia Summit. Stressing that participation in both the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia summits was important for an Asian economic community based on an open and inclusive regional architecture, Manmohan Singh said: India's enhanced engagement with the ASEAN is at the heart of our 'Look East' policy.

October 23rd, 2009 HUA HIN - ASEAN Summit Spokesperson Vimon Kidchob on Friday said that participation by countries like India is very significant for all ten ASEAN member countries, as India has very strong-hold in various fields like education, herbal medicines, IT, science and technology. She said that in such a scenario the role of India cannot be ignored and that ASEAN expects to enhance trade with New Delhi.

October 20th, 2009 SINGAPORE - Singapore Wednesday urged the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to stay on track with integration efforts so that the region could boom along with China and India. "Looking ahead to the 21st century, the re-encounter of China and India will be a very dramatic one and a lot of will be through South-East Asia," Foreign Minister George Yeo told the Singapore Straits Times, ahead of the weekend 15th ASEAN summit in Thailand.

September 1st, 2009 SINGAPORE - Singapore's DBS Group Holdings Ltd, the biggest bank in South-East Asia, said Tuesday that it has appointed Piyush Gupta from Citibank Inc as its chief executive officer, about five months after the death of its previous CEO. Gupta, 49, is currently Citibank's chief executive for South-East Asia and the Pacific and is to join the DBS Group in November, the bank said in a statement.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Tuesday called on Brazilian President Lula da Silva ahead of the fourth IBSA summit of India, Brazil and South Africa, and stressed the need for accelerating connectivity between the three emerging economies.

July 22nd, 2009 PHUKET - External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna on Wednesday held a series of bilateral talks with the foreign ministers of China, New Zealand, Russia and Sri Lanka to draw appropriate strategies for India's 11th summit with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to be held in October this year.

July 22nd, 2009 PHUKET - Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Wednesday held talks here with his counterparts from 16 countries of the East Asia Summit (EAS), setting the stage for India's seventh summit with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October.

July 15th, 2009 Sharm-el-SHEIKH - Amid doubts over its relevance in an increasingly unipolar world, the 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) opened Wednesday with leaders from 118 member countries gathering on the banks of the Red Sea in this Egyptian town to debate on peace and solidarity as well as the economic crisis. Egypt President Hosni Mubarak took over as chair of the movement from Cuba's Raul Castro, whose country had hosted the last NAM summit in Havana in September 2006.

July 1st, 2009 Report: Iran's Ahmadinejad cancels Libya visitIran's Fars news agency says that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not attend the African Union summit in Libya as was expected. In a brief statement, the semiofficial news agency reported that the president's visit to Libya — which was supposed to start Wednesday — has been canceled.

April 11th, 2009 PATTAYA - Thai officials decided to cancel a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Saturday after anti-government protesters broke into the summit venue at Pattaya, a resort town 100 km south of Bangkok. The Thai government said the summit between ASEAN members and six dialogue partners, including China, Japan and India, was postponed and would be held in about two months.