The 17th ASEAN Summit, to be held in Hanoi in late October, will be a landmark event looking towards an ASEAN Community by 2015, a Vietnamese official has said.

Assistant to the Foreign Minister and head of the SOM Vietnam-ASEAN Pham Quang Vinh made this statement at a working meeting with representatives of 19 advance parties of countries and international organisations attending the summit and related meetings in Hanoi on Oct. 13.

The meetings will finalise important decisions made during the year Vietnam takes over ASEAN chairmanship.

According to Vinh, the 17 th summit will also review the construction of the ASEAN Community and implementation of the ASEAN Charter as well as approve the overall plan for ASEAN connectivity.

At the meeting, ASEAN leaders will ratify several important declarations related to the building of the ASEAN Community.

Vinh also said that at high-level dialogues between ASEAN and other partners, the leaders will deliver announcements to lift ties between ASEAN and its partners to a new degree.

Following recommendations made at the ASEAN Ministers’ Meeting and East Asia Ministers’ Meeting in July, leaders of ASEAN and related countries will invite Russia and the US to attend the East Asia Summit from 2011, raising EAS participants to 18. To prepare for that, Russian and US foreign ministers will attend the fifth EAS in October as guests of the ASEAN and East Asian Presidents, he said.

According to the official, preparations for the summit and related meetings have been implemented carefully.

Looking back on the 16th ASEAN Summit, Vinh said, participating countries were contented with the organisation and the contents of the event.

Source: VNA