During his visit to Thailand at the weekend, Rudd is expected to take part in the Summit which will be attended by leaders from ten ASEAN nations.
Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd will discuss the North Korea's recent rocket launch along with other issues at the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit scheduled to be held on Sunday.
During his visit to Thailand at the weekend, Rudd is expected to take part in the Summit which will be attended by leaders from ten ASEAN nations plus India, Japan, China, South Korea and New Zealand.
The 10 ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The leaders will issue a joint statement on the region's response to the global financial crisis after receiving briefings from the heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.
The leaders will also discuss the regional security threat posed by North Korea's long-range rocket launch, trade, food and energy security and disaster relief cooperation.
According to media reports here on Thursday, Rudd is also likely to use the summit as an opportunity to talk about his ambitious plan to create an EU-style Asia Pacific Community.
The east Asia expert at the Australian National University, Professor Hal Hill, said that Rudd will use any bilateral meetings with leaders to push his "bold" APC plan.
"I think it's still at the stage where people are being sounded out -- are they interested or not?" Hill said adding, "It's very early days, but my understanding is that most of the countries that have been consulted are at least listening, and they're interested."
However, Hill suggested Rudd to avoid being too pushy as Australia was still the "new kid on the block" in regional talks.
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