President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday left for Cambodia to participate in annual summit meetings with the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations as well as the U.S., China and Japan, slated for Monday and Tuesday.

In the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, Lee will join the Korea-ASEAN summit, the ASEAN-plus-three (Korea, China and Japan) summit and the East Asia Summit.

These talks will discuss a wide range of regional and global issues ranging from cooperation in trade, development, security, global finance and climate change, Lee’s office said in a press release.

At the East Asia Summit, concerned countries are to announce official negotiations over the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, aimed at widening and deepening their economic relations.

From Tuesday through Thursday, Lee is also to visit the United Arab Emirates to hold summit talks with President Sheikh Khalifa. They are to discuss cooperation in a variety of areas including energy, trade, finance, health care, and science and technology.

(sshluck@heraldcorp.com)