The fifth Asia - Europe summit (ASEM) in Hanoi on Friday and Saturday will be one of the largest international events ever held in Vietnam.
Officials say hundreds of delegates from 25 European and 13 Asian countries will participate in the summit.
The meeting will celebrate the enlargement of summit participants to include the 10 new members of the European Union, and 3 new members on the Asian side: Cambodia, Laos and Burma.
The Hanoi summit nearly collapsed due to a dispute over Burma. E.U. countries -- citing Burma's human rights record -- agreed to attend on the condition that Rangoon only send a low-level delegation.
In addition to the situation in Burma, summit leaders are expected to discuss terrorism and the continuing tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Information for this report is provided by AP and AFP.