With the start of the New Year, Vietnam assumed the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from Thailand. Summits of the regional body are planned for Ho Chi Minh City in April and Hanoi in October. “I would like to express my appreciation to Thailand for their excellent Chairmanship in 2009 and welcome Vietnam as the new chair,” ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said in a statement. Cambodia is to take the ASEAN chair in 2012.