PRESIDENT Arroyo is leaving for Thailand to join nine other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for the group’s 14th annual summit, Malacañang announced yesterday.

The leaders will hold their meetings at the Dusit Hotel in Bangkok from today up to March 1, and its main focus is the group’s efforts to help their export-dependent economies weather the global financial slowdown.

The leaders will discuss a $120-billion emergency fund that they approved on Sunday.

They are also scheduled to sign a declaration on a roadmap for a European Union-style community by 2015 and a free trade pact with Australia and New Zealand.

Mrs. Arroyo is scheduled to return to Manila tomorrow, immediately after the end of the meeting.

The Philippines aside, the other members of the regional bloc are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Roy Pelovello