"The problems with the Asean summit with dialogue partners seem to be continuing.The planned meeting in Phuket has been postponed to the end of October.
The Abhisit government has cited busy schedules of other heads of states. But sceptics believe unsettled political trouble in Thailand might be the main reason.
Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya announced the postponement from the middle of next month to late October.He told reporters that many government leaders of several countries found the June schedule to be inconvenient.
The decision to postpone the summit yet again followed a news report two days ago that foreign leaders were still feeling uneasy about political trouble in Thailand. They witnessed the kingdom's problems first-hand when anti-government protesters forced cancellation of their meeting in Pattaya on April 11. The report said some foreign leaders were pondering bringing their own guards to the planned June summit.
This has unsettled the Thai government, with Army chief Anupong Paochinda reportedly saying that presence of foreign guards could affect Thailand's image and reputation."
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/05/13...cs_30102589.php
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ASEAN summit postponed again
Started by Kirkland, May 13 2009 09:35 PM
1 reply to this topic
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Posted 14 May 2009 - 10:01 AM
What a humiliation for the government. It seems clear from the news reports that a number of the foreign leaders are not eager to come back to thailand any time soon. If they postpone to late October, they might as well not schedule the next meeting until a new country takes over as the chairman of ASEAN from Thailand. I wouldn't be surprised to see no ASEAN summit meeting at all until 2010 - in another country.
