The 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) began Friday in Thailand's Southern island Phuket with at least 9,000 army soldiers deployed to ensure security of this meeting and the ensuing 16th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) scheduled for July 17 to 23.
There are no signs of protest on Friday in the resort island, Bangkok Post online noted. In mid-April, anti-government protesters stormed the venue of 14th ASEAN summit and Related Summits, scheduled for April 10-12 in another Thai resort city Pattaya, and forced the cancellation of the meeting.
The meetings on Friday are attended by ASEAN senior officials for document discussion and drafting, and the meeting between foreign ministers will not begin until Sunday.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan is scheduled to visit the meeting venue at the Sheraton Grand Laguna Hotel and the press center at the Laguna Beach Resort Hotel Friday afternoon.
Thai government has enacted the Internal Security Act from July 10 to 24, covering the whole of Phuket Island and five kilometers offshore, to make sure the same turbulence in April will not happen again.
According to the Act, all forms of protest are forbidden within the area mentioned above.
Leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), whose protest on April 11 forced a halt of the ASEAN Summit in Pattaya, had said earlier that they would not disrupt the meetings in Phuket.
The AMM will be attended by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their counterparts from ASEAN's dialogue partners.
The ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2009)
