Asia-Europe summit to focus on Burma
Global security issues, including joint Asia-Europe counter-terror measures, nuclear tensions with North Korea and failed international efforts to end military rule in Burma will head the agenda of next weeks Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held in Helsinki.
The September 10-11 gathering, bringing together leaders from 13 Asian and 25 European Union states - plus the European Commission - is also expected to take decisions on widening ASEM membership to bring in more Asian and European states.
The EU wants its future members Bulgaria and Romania to join ASEM while India, Pakistan, East Timor as well as Australia and New Zealand are on the list of Asian states eager to participate in the forum.
More : bangkokpost.com
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East Asia summit concludes
New Zealand was pleased to have taken part in the inaugural East Asia Summit on an equal footing with its regional neighbours, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today.
The summit, which concluded in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, was attended by Prime Minister Helen Clark and Leaders from the 10 Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) countries, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) and Australia, New Zealand and India.
Winston Peters attended a pre-summit Foreign Ministers meeting to lay the groundwork for the leaders' meeting. A key focus of the meeting was to finalise the East Asia
16-country Asia council formed at summit
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A 16-country group to focus on economic, security and political concerns in Asia will include India, Australia and New Zealand.
The council came out of the first East Asia Summit Wednesday, but the specific goals of the group are still unknown, The Washington Post reports.
It expands the traditional 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and another group which includes China, Japan and South Korea.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia, where the East Asia Summit took place, said the decision to include the three was unanimous.
However, he said the
Asia and Europe tussle on priorities
HIS Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzaddin Waddaulah is expected to lead a top-level Bruneian delegation to the Sixth Asia Europe Meeting Summit in Helsinki this weekend.
The Asem summit is held every two years, alternately in Asia and Europe. The forum of 39 members aims to strengthen cooperation between Asian and European countries through inter-regional dialogue and interaction.
While cooperation is expected, in diplomatic terms, to be evenly focused on political, economic and cultural issues, a Brunei Government official said yesterday that European members focused more on the political while Asian members would
Actis closes $130m fund for South East Asia
Emerging markets private equity investor Actis has closed its Actis ASEAN Fund on $130m. Investors in the fund include private sector institutional investors from North America, Europe and Asia.
Actis closed its Actis Malaysia Fund on $60m in 2004. Due to investor interest the firm then decided to increase the fund size and turn the Malaysia-focused fund into a fund investing across the ASEAN region.
Actis ASEAN Fund will have a special focus on investments in Malaysia, and it will also focus on investment opportunities in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
More : altassets.com
East Asia summit becomes an annual feature
The East Asia summit held in the Malaysian capital will hence forth be an annual affair to foster strategic dialogue among the member nations and to promote cooperation in security and political issues besides economic integration.
The leaders of 16 nations which included the core ASEAN group have also decided to help each other in promote development, financial stability, energy security, economic integration and to narrow the development gap through technology transfer and removing infrastructure bottlenecks.
To be chaired by ASEAN chairperson, the new summit will be "an open, inclusive, transparent and outward-looking forum in which
