THE 14th annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, scheduled to be held in Chiang Mai from December 13 to 17, has
been postponed due to the continuing political crisis in Thailand,
Cambodian and Thai officials said Tuesday.
"I have received ...
information that the meeting has been delayed," Minister of Information
Khieu Kanharith said, but could not comment on when the summit would
take place.
Thai government spokesman Nattawut Saikaur said the summit had been postponed until March.
Koy
Kuong, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said
Cambodia would await developments in Thailand to see whether it could
guarantee the security of leaders from the 10 Asean member states.
"If
the two main airports in Thailand are reopening and are operating as
normal, it means the situation is calm and Thailand could host the
meeting," he said.
"But if not, the situation will continue to worsen," he added.
The
Asean charter, which commits the bloc's 10 nations to promote democracy
and human rights, and was due to be signed at the summit,
will now be
adopted in Indonesia.
"The Cabinet agreed to the Foreign Ministry's
proposal to declare the Asean charter in Jakarta, and the Ministry will
write a letter to inform group members," Nattawut said.
News of the
delay came shortly after Thailand's Constitutional Court dissolved the
country's ruling party and barred Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from
politics for five years.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
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