Officials from 17 countries to attend 10th ASEAN meetings

Heads of state and government as well as ministers and senior officials from 17 countries are expected to attend the 10th ASEAN senior officials, ministerial and summit meetings scheduled for Nov. 25 to 30 in Vientiane.

Yong Chanthalangsy, director-general of the Press Department of the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview with Xinhua Wednesday that heads of state and government from 10 ASEAN countries and those from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand and the Russian foreign minister are expected to attend the ASEAN meetings.

He said, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit meetings also attract the attention of the world leading press media. Over 800 journalists from world leading news agencies and other well-known media have already registered to cover the meetings. About 200 reporters from the Lao media will also cover the event.

Yong added that the press center, with a floor space of 30,000 square meters, will be formally operational from Nov. 25 to Nov. 30. A Thai company has donated 50 computers and six printers for the press center. The online computers will be provided for public use for journalists.

He said about 110 people, including staff members of the Lao foreign ministry and some other departments, and 20 volunteers from a Lao university will serve for the press center.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The ASEAN summit meeting is to be held on Nov. 29-30.

Source: Xinhua