Photo: AFP
CEBU, Philippines (AFP) - ASEAN leaders will sign an anti-terrorism convention and speed up plans to link their economies in a huge single market when they meet Saturday for their annual summit, host nation the Philippines said.
Hundreds of riot police were out in force Friday as leaders from around East Asia poured into the Philippine resort city of Cebu for the summit, which was postponed last month amid warnings of a terror attack.
Officials said there were no specific threats aimed at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathering, as well as a wider meeting with leaders from nations including Australia, China, India and Japan.
The 10-nation ASEAN bloc, which accounts for about one-sixth of the world's population, will agree to set a 2015 target date for the "free movement of goods, services, investment and capital", five years earlier than planned.
The bloc will also sign the blueprint of its first-ever charter, aimed at turning the group into a European Union-style legal entity with binding rules and regulations, and an anti-terror deal to make it easier to track and extradite suspects.
"Global terrorism has assumed new forms of virulence. We will make sure that this community is more secure and resistant to the threat of terror," said Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto Romulo.
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