Chinese and ASEAN officials on Oct. 10 agreed to a schedule for ministerial meetings and announced the first official meeting will be held in Singapore in 2012.

The agreement was reached during the China and ASEAN Cultural Ministerial Meeting held in China ’s southwest Chongqing municipality to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue between China and the Association of Southwest Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to Xinhua News Agency.

"China and ASEAN countries should preserve their cultural identities while creating unity among diverse cultures. Ministerial meetings can help generate more common ground and showcase to the world what China and ASEAN can collectively present," the agency quoted Sim Cim Guan, deputy secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and head of the Singapore delegation, as saying.

VietNamNet/Vietnam Plus