By ANTARA News,
Bangkok : Crisis-hit Thailand has postponed a summit of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN scheduled for mid-December, a senior government official said Tuesday.
News of the delay came shortly after the country’s constitutional court dissolved Thailand’s ruling party and barred Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years.
“The cabinet has agreed to the proposal by the foreign ministry to postpone the ASEAN summit. The next date of the summit will be decided in consultation with ASEAN members,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The summit had been scheduled for December 15-18 in the northern city of Chiang Mai. It had already been moved out of Bangkok due to the turmoil, which has seen protesters occupy both of the capital’s airports.
Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and a former Thai foreign minister, said he had not yet been informed of the decision.
“I am not yet aware of it. I am still waiting for the decision,” he told AFP by telephone from Hong Kong.
“But so far I am aware there is no government in Thailand now, therefore the foreign ministry must handle this issue,” he said.