Obama to meet with Aquino, Asean leaders in NY

US President Barack Obama II will meet with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations when he hosts the second US-Asean Leaders Meeting in New York on Sept. 24. The White House said Obama invited the leaders of the 10 Asean member-states and the Asean secretary general to join him for the meet. At the first US-Asean meeting, held in Singapore in November 2009, Obama and the Asean leaders "pledged to deepen cooperation in a number of areas of common concern including trade and investment, regional security, disaster management, food and energy security, and climate change," the White House said. "The President looks forward to working with the leaders to assess the progress on these issues, identify future efforts to strengthen U.S.-ASEAN relations, and discuss multilateral approaches for greater regional cooperation," the White House said in a statement on its website. Members of Asean include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.—JV, GMANews.TV