Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing is to visit Laos and Myanmar and attend a series of ASEAN meetings in Vientiane, capital of Laos.  

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kong Quan announced Tuesday that Li will be in Vientiane to attend three meetings of the foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue partners from July 26 to August 1.

These include the foreign ministers meeting between ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea (10+3), the Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) between ASEAN and its dialogue partners and the foreign ministers meeting of the 12th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The 10 members of ASEAN hold a meeting of foreign ministers annually to formulate policy guidelines and coordinate the activities of the organization. This year's ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) will be held in Vientiane.

After the AMM, ASEAN foreign ministers will meet with their counterparts from the three Northeast Asian dialogue partners of ASEAN, including China, South Korea and Japan.

The Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) will take place after the AMM between ASEAN and its 10 dialogue partners, including Australia, Canada, China, the EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the US. The PMC includes a plenary session (10+10) and separate individual sessions between ASEAN and each dialogue partner (10+1). The PMC serves as a venue to promote better understanding on various regional and international political and economic issues of common concern.

Following the above two meetings, the foreign ministers of the ASEAN members and dialogue partners will attend the 12th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). High officials from Papua New Guinea, North Korea and East Timor will also be present at the forum for consultations.

The forum, initiated in 1993, serves as a multilateral consultative forum aimed at promoting preventive diplomacy and confidence building among the nations in the region.

After attending the meetings, Li will also visit Laos and Myanmar, the spokesperson said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2005)