ASEAN trade talks end in songfest

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (Reuters) Washington's top trade negotiator came to Asia with a plea to topple trade barriers, but her Asian counterparts wrecked some well-known tunes instead.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab met Southeast Asian trade ministers in Malaysia this week and, as ever in this region, talks ended with a dinner and the inevitable singalong.

Singaporean and Brunei officials opened the night with ''My Way'', the Vietnamese weighed in with ''Rhythm of the Rain'' and the Laotians sang ''To All The Girls I've Loved Before''.

Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz launched into an Indonesian number, ''Tak Ingin Sendiri'' (I Don't Want To Be Alone''), with her banker husband, Basir Ahmad.

The feisty, blunt-speaking Rafidah, reputedly the world's longest serving trade minister with 20 years in office, later cut a cake to mark their 40th wedding anniversary.

Rafidah, 61, is famous for her forthright views but not her singing. Local journalists call her the ''bullet train'' and ''rapid fire'', but she apparently prefers ''the golfing grandmother''.

But the night belonged to Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu who recited a poem touching on the on-off free-trade talks between the Association of South East Asian Nations and India.

The poem thanked India for removing ''toilet seats'' from the long list of goods New Delhi wanted to exclude from the pact.

REUTERS SKU PM1133

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