Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has expressed hope that Burma will free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest before a major international meeting scheduled in October.
Mr. Thaksin's spokesman (Jakrapob Penkair) says the Thai leader raised the issue during talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Khai Friday, when the two countries held their first-ever joint cabinet meeting in Vietnam's port city of Danang.
Mr. Thaksin was quoted as saying the release of the Nobel peace laureate, who is under house arrest in Rangoon, is expected to come before the Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM summit, which takes place in Hanoi in early October (eighth and ninth).
Information for this report is provided by AFP.