The 17th ASEAN Summit, to be held in Hanoi in late October, willbe a landmark event looking towards an ASEAN Community by 2015, aVietnamese official has said.

Assistant to the ForeignMinister and head of the SOM Vietnam-ASEAN Pham Quang Vinh made thisstatement at a working meeting with representatives of 19 advanceparties of countries and international organisations attending thesummit and related meetings in Hanoi on Oct. 13.

The meetings will finalise important decisions made during the year Vietnam takes over ASEAN chairmanship.

Accordingto Vinh, the 17 th summit will also review the construction of theASEAN Community and implementation of the ASEAN Charter as well asapprove the overall plan for ASEAN connectivity.

At the meeting, ASEAN leaders will ratify several important declarations related to the building of the ASEAN Community.

Vinhalso said that at high-level dialogues between ASEAN and otherpartners, the leaders will deliver announcements to lift ties betweenASEAN and its partners to a new degree.

Followingrecommendations made at the ASEAN Ministers’ Meeting and East AsiaMinisters’ Meeting in July, leaders of ASEAN and related countries willinvite Russia and the US to attend the East Asia Summit from 2011,raising EAS participants to 18. To prepare for that, Russian and USforeign ministers will attend the fifth EAS in October as guests of theASEAN and East Asian Presidents, he said.

According to the official, preparations for the summit and related meetings have been implemented carefully.

Looking back on the 16th ASEAN Summit, Vinh said, participatingcountries were contented with the organisation and the contents of theevent./.