DATE=10/06/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ASEAN SCENESETTER - S

NUMBER=2-308293

BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB

DATELINE=(NUSA DUA), BALI, INDONESIA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///// SUMMIT IS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. /////

INTRO: Southeast Asian leaders open their annual summit Tuesday on the Indonesia's Bali Island. Free trade, terrorism, and the Burmese crackdown on the pro-democracy movement will top the agenda. Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from the site of the summit.

TEXT: Leaders of ASEAN, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, chose to hold this year's summit in Bali - one-year after the island was rocked by a terrorist attack, to show their commitment to combat international terrorism.

In the past year, ASEAN leaders have increased security cooperation and 17 people have been convicted in Indonesian courts in the Bali attacks.

But civic activists, also meeting on Bali, say ASEAN is disregarding civil liberties in the quest for security.

Burma's latest detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is also shadowing the agenda. In the past four months, ASEAN has broken with its own rule on non-interference and publicly criticized fellow member Burma's ruling generals for a lack of progress toward political reform.

Asian leaders are also studying plans to create a trading bloc for Southeast Asia's 500-million people. They aim to form an economic union similar to Europe's by 2020. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/SB/JO/RAE