HANOI, Oct. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The heads of 13 Asian delegations to the 5th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 5) met here Thursday afternoon to discuss issues to be tabled in the upcoming plenary meetings.

    They also principally approved the documents to be adopted at the two-day summit meeting to start on Friday and discussed the future of ASEM with a view to enhance Asia's role in the process.

    Asian countries should stick to the principle of non-interference in other country's internal affairs, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said while addressing the Asian heads of delegation's meeting.

    A number of European countries are interested in situations in Asia, including Southeast Asia, and some of them may, at ASEM 5, raise questions over issues in a specific country in the continent,he said after giving a warm welcome to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Boungnang Vorachit and Myanmar Labor Minister Tin Win. The three countries were officially admitted to ASEM on Thursday along with the 10 new European Union states.

    During the meeting, the heads of the 13 delegations focused their discussions on main issues and documents to be touched upon by all 39 ASEM members at the summit meeting.

    An open-air enlargement ceremony was held Thursday afternoon towelcome the 13 new ASEM members, including the three ASEAN members,and 10 new EU members, namely, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic,Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus.

    The first enlargement summit will mark new development of the ASEM process in terms of quality and quantity.

    At the summit meeting, ASEM 5's delegates will thoroughly discuss recent regional and international developments and security issues, new challenges posed by globalization, the role of the United Nations, the future of ASEM, closer economic partnership between Asia and Europe, cultural diversity and national culture in the age of information technology, and new initiatives launched by ASEM members.

    They are expected to adopt a chairman's statement, the Hanoi Declaration on Closer ASEM Economic Partnership and the Declaration on Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations.

    Some 1,000 delegates from 39 delegations will attend ASEM 5, including 26 founding members, including seven ASEAN members -- Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, 15 EU member states, the European Commission, China,Japan and South Korea. Enditem