Next ASEAN meeting to be held in Phuket in October
The next ASEAN summit will be next held during 23-25 of October in Phuket. The members include 16 leaders of ASEAN and dialogue partner’s countries as well as the UN secretary general and executives of international economic and financial organizations.
The summit was scheduled for April 09 but was postponed because of demonstrations by United Front for democracy against Dictatorship. Another previous meeting which was to be held in December 08 was also cancelled due to the demonstrations by the People’s Alliance for Democracy.
An official of the Thai government decided Phuket instead of Pattaya because residents of the Island province tend to be supporters of the ruling Democrat party. While Phuket has plenty of attributes, there are some reservations about the logistical issues involved in holding the meeting in Phuket. The meeting rooms are small and streets are narrow.
Meanwhile effort are underway to beautify the island with trees being carefully pruned and fresh flower buds being planted on the road between airport and Phuket city.
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said that the foreign ministry officials will visit Phuket from June 5 to 7 to check the island’s preparedness.
Sources maintain that the government was more confident about the chances of holding the meetings without any issue if they were held in Phuket rather in Bangkok.