An ASEAN summit will be held this week in Vientiane, Laos. ASEAN, of course is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Prior to the summit, a few issues have already been flying around in the air.

One of them is the situation in southern Thailand. A few member countries have expressed concerns on the recent development but the Thai premier has warned that he will consider any enquiry has a sign of intrusion of Thailand's internal problem. It is clear that Thailand is eager to go through the meeting without anyone mentioning the condition in the southern Thai states.

The main agenda of the summit however will be the discussion of free trade deal with Australia and New Zealand. It will be interesting to see how things will work out and how Malaysia will respond to it. Currently, all member countries have agreed to the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), though the timetable towards reduced trade barriers varies from country to country. Malaysia in particular is supposed to eliminate the tariffs on foreign automobiles by 2005 but the government still maintains the tariffs on imported vehicles.

At the same time, it is interesting to note that if the free trade is signed, a good will probably go to the US from Australia via Singapore and then back again without being taxed, or at least being minimally taxed. This is because both Australia and Singapore have a free trade agreement with the US. An ASEAN-Australia FTA will complete the link.

Another issue that will be discussed on the table in Laos, surprisingly, at least to me, is the plan to increase the use of renewable energy. It is encouraging to see ASEAN is tackling the issue of energy together while heading to the right direction in matter concerning the economy and the environment.

The summit starts tomorrow. Let's hope the progress towards one more free trade deal will go uninterrupted.