Bali is known as a peaceful paradise - a calm, serene island of the gods nestled in the Indonesian archipelago. But discussions amongst leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) this week are likely to be anything but peaceful or calm.
Asean has a lot on its plate during this summit - it has to decide whether or not to give Burma the chairmanship of the grouping in 2014, firm up its ambitious plans of turning into a united economic community by 2015, and ease tensions between member states and China over the heated issue of the South China Sea.
This Asean meeting is being seen as one of the most critical ever, as it comes at a time of global economic uncertainty.
Ministers in the group have said it is now more urgent than ever for it to work towards a single economic community by 2015.
The plan is for Asean to turn itself into a eurozone-like entity - with no barriers to trade, a common visa system - and possibly even a single currency.
But there are concerns about how this will actually work - given how near the deadline is, and how disparate a group Asean is in terms of economic development.
Bali is known as a peaceful paradise - a calm, serene island of the gods nestled in the Indonesian archipelago. But discussions amongst leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) this week are likely to be anything but peaceful or calm. Asean has a lot on its plate during this summit - it has to decide whether or not to give Burma the chairmanship of the grouping in 2014, firm up its ambitious plans of turning into a united economic community by 2015, and ease tensions between member states and China over the heated issue of the South China Sea. This Asean meeting is being seen as one of the most critical ever, as it comes at a time of global economic uncertainty. Ministers in the group have said it is now more urgent than ever for it to work towards a single economic community by 2015.The plan is for Asean to turn itself into a eurozone-like entity - with no barriers to trade, a common visa system - and possibly even a single currency. But there are concerns about how this will actually work - given how near the deadline is, and how disparate a group Asean is in terms of economic development.
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