ASEAN foreign ministers to meet in NY

BANGKOK, September 6 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that foreign ministers of 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in New York later this month, on the sidelines of the upcoming annual United Nation General Assembly (UNGA). Suriya Chindawong, Director-General of the ministry's Department of ASEAN Affairs, told journalists of the schedule on September 5, noting that the upcoming ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New York is mainly aimed to discuss preparations for the next ASEAN Summit and related forums, to be hosted by the Philippines, the current ASEAN Chairmanship, late this year. According to the senior Thai official, recent deadly violence in the Rakhine State in neighboring Myanmar is also expected to be raised at the upcoming meeting, as it concerns human rights issues in the ASEAN Community (AC). Late last month, international media reported that armed ethnic Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State clashed with state security forces, causing hundreds of casualties and about 40,000 ethnic Rohingya villagers fled across the border to take refuge in Bangladesh. (TNA)