Underlining the growing importance of India?s ??Look East Policy??, external affairs minister SM Krishna is leaving for Phuket, Thailand, to attend Asia?s biggest annual security meeting, which will be dominated by terrorism, the North Korean nuclear issue and the global financial crisis.

The external affairs minister, during his three-day visit from July 21, will represent the nation at the post-ministerial meeting of the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) and the Asean Regional Forum (ARF)?Asia?s top security forum that will be attended by 27 foreign ministers, including the US, Russia and the European Union.

India has enormous stakes in peace and stability in the economically vibrant East Asian region that boasts an annual output of $1.1 trillion and represents over half the world’s population.

Krishna is likely to meet the foreign ministers of China, Japan and Australia, among others, on the sidelines of the security meet, sources said.

Pakistan?s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will also be in Phuket for the 16th ARF meeting. But it’s not clear yet whether he will meet Qureshi so soon after their meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh last week.

With recent bombings in Jakarta, terrorism is top of the agenda of ARF meeting which will see debate on issues like a regional human rights council to tackle violators like Myanmar, North Korea missile tests and the global financial crisis.

India and Asean have finalised a free trade area agreement (FTA), scheduled to be implemented from January, 2010. Discussions on agreements on investment and services will start soon. The FTA seeks to scrap tariffs on over 4,000 products, which include items ranging from chemicals to electronics.

India is a dialogue partner at ASEAN which comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Brunei.

The East Asia Summit focuses on five areas of cooperation _ energy, education, finance, avian influenza and national disaster mitigation. India has taken many initiatives in these areas and is ready to explore new vistas of engagement. Cooperative framework of East Asia Summit plays an important role in the global economy and international relations.