Red carpet rolled out for Asean leaders

CEBU (AFP) — The Philippines will roll out the red carpet today as presidents and prime ministers from across Southeast Asia open their rescheduled summit to tackle poverty, terrorism and trade.

The ASEAN and East Asia summits in Cebu were called off last month amid warnings of a terror attack, and security remains a concern after bombings in three cities in Mindanao last Wednesday killed seven people.

Dozens of heavily armed riot police were out in force on Friday as leaders from around the region arrived, and the head of security rejected reports citing unnamed diplomats who said safety measures were lax.

"I have heard quite a different story from delegates saying that we are too strict," retired General Leo Alvez told AFP. "Everyone is screened and searched – even the ministers."

The annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and the wider East Asia gathering – which adds Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – run until Monday.

ASEAN leaders will sign a landmark counterterrorism convention to make it easier to track suspects and funds, establish a regional extradition agreement and provide for the rehabilitation of convicted militants.

"Global terrorism has assumed new forms of virulence," Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto Romulo said. "We will make sure that this community is more secure and resistant to the threat of terror."

Leaders will also unveil a framework for an eventual ASEAN charter to transform the 10-nation bloc into a European Union-style entity, and issue an ambitious pledge to create a regional free-trade zone by 2015.

The charter would provide for legally binding rules on its member nations, a major change for a disparate group of nations that has always operated by informal consensus but faced criticism it is little more than a "talking shop."

The free-trade zone is intended to help the bloc face up to the growing financial clout of China and India, and allow Southeast Asian economies to be competitive in the 21st century.

Foreign and economic ministers have been holding separate meetings in the run-up to the summits, hammering out details on the agreements and holding a wide range of two-way and three-way meetings on other regional concerns.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met his South Korean counterpart Song Min-soon and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Katsuhito Asano on Friday morning for talks that touched on trade and the North Korea crisis.

Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath held talks on signing an India-ASEAN free-trade agreement in July, while East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Luis Guterres met his counterparts as his country looks to join ASEAN in five years.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has decided to cut short his trip to the ASEAN summit this weekend, Roh’s spokesman said Friday.

Indonesia President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono also plans to cut short his visit due to domestic concerns, an Indonesian embassy official here said without elaborating further.

Roh had planned to make a four-day trip to Cebu starting Saturday for the annual summit but decided to return home a day earlier due to conflicting schedules, presidential spokesman Yoon Seong-yong said in Seoul.

Yoon said some bilateral talks have either been rescheduled before Tuesday or canceled.

Roh was to meet his Chinese and Japanese counterparts on Sunday on the sidelines of the annual regional meeting. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program will be on the agenda for the summit talks.

Yudhoyono was to arrive here yesterday and leave on Sunday, a day earlier than initially scheduled, the official said, asking not to be named, due to policy.

Among other officials attending this weekend’s meetings will be Prime Minister John Howard of Australia, whose country is one of several that have kept in place travel alerts for Cebu during the summit.

Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada and other nations warned last month of a possible attack just before the summits were canceled, although the Philippines officially blamed an approaching typhoon.

The Philippines, a chain of more than 7,000 islands that is notoriously difficult to police fully, said the summit venues were safe. Wednesday’s bombings occurred on Mindanao island, hundreds of kilometers from Cebu.

Police suggested that the bombings were aimed at embarrassing the government but said there was no particular threat to the gathering.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. - With AP