Prime Minister leaves for ASEAN summit

New Delhi, Nov 20: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today left for Singapore on a two-day visit to attend the India-ASEAN summit and East-Asia meet beginning tomorrow.

During his stay in Singapore, Dr Singh will hold talks with Chinese, Japanese and Malaysian Prime Ministers, besides Myanmar Premier Thein Sein.

The current situation in Myanmar is expected to come up for discussion during his meeting with Mr Sein.

''I will discuss with the ASEAN leaders new measures to expand horizons of our cooperation to include not just greater economic integration, but also people to people contacts, science and technology, health, transport, human resources development and information and communication technology'', the Prime Minister said in a statement yesterday on the eve of his departure for Singapore.

Dr Singh said India's Look East policy is now blossoming and showing results on the ground.

Ever since India became a Sectoral Dialogue partner of ASEAN, cooperation with the grouping had increased manifold, he added.

''Bilateral trade had grown rapidly and surpassed our expectations. It stands at 30 billion dollars.'' The Prime Minister will also attend the third East Asia summit-a most ambitious exercise of community building and integration ever attempted in Asia. The summit is likely to discuss regional and international issues and future direction.

UNI