23/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The EU/Asean ministerial meeting will indeed take place in Vientiane, Laos, on 11 and 12 December, said the Permanent Secretary of the Laos Foreign Ministry, Bounkeut Sangsomsak, refuting statements made by Asean diplomats who did not rule out the idea that the meeting may be cancelled if participation of European ministers was not to be greater. Ten of the Fifteen EU Member States intend sending Secretaries of State or Ministers to the meeting, Mr. Bounkeut told AFP. It will be the first ministerial meeting between the two regional blocs since 1997, date when Burma joined Asean. Several MEPs have asked for the meeting to be postponed, following publication of a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) denouncing the continued, systematic practice of forced labour in Burma.