JAKARTA, July 1: Foreign Secretary Riaz H. Khokhar had good mettings with the Foreign Minister of Vietnam, Mr Nguyen Dy Nien, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of People's Republic of Laos, Mr Somsavat Lengsavad , here at post-ministerial conferences of the 37th Asean ministerial meeting (AMM) on Thursday.

Mr Riaz, who has come here as a special envoy of Pakistan, thanked them for their support of Pakistan in the membership of Asean Regional Forum (ARF), which will meet here on Friday and admit Pakistan to the group.

They discussed follow-up action of the visit of Vietnamese President to Pakistan and the Pakistan prime minister's visit to Laos. Mr Khokhar said: "We are hopeful of playing an important role in this region in the economic area as well as in the context of security issues."

Indonesia is hosting the 37th AMM, the post-ministerial conferences and the 11th Asean Regional Forum (ARF) from June 29 to July 2. The AMM is an annual forum for the Foreign Ministers of Asean member countries comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

At post-ministerial conferences, the Asean foreign ministers meet their counterparts from Asean Dialogue Partners. The Asean Regional Forum (ARF) which was established in 1994, currently has 23 countries as its participants, while Pakistan is scheduled to be admitted to ARF on Friday (July 2).