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PHNOM PENH, Sunday (Reuters)

The threat of terror in a region racked in recent weeks by the deadliest bombings since the September 11 strikes will overshadow a summit of southeast Asian leaders gathered to boost trade and develop one of the mightiest but most remote rivers on earth.

The session on Sunday will comprise the six countries that border the Mekong river.

That will be followed on Monday and Tuesday by a summit of leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and South Korea to promote economic integration, hammer out common policies and paper over the cracks that perennially open up among states divided by differing interests and wealth levels.

However, security will take centre stage with most nations likely to agree that without the ability to ensure the safety of their nearly 2.0 billion people, leaders can make little headway on promoting tourism, nurturing economic growth or signing up to a planned free trade agreement with China that would create the largest such zone in the world.

"Security has always been on the agenda, but terrorism...is higher on the agenda than it used to be," Rodolfo Severino, secretary general of ASEAN, said on Saturday.

The first day of talks on Sunday will be attended by the heads of government of China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar to reaffirm a development initiative for the Mekong river region -- a remote, jungle-blanketed stretch of mountains and plains about the size of western Europe and home to 250 million people.

The summit to mark the first 10 years of a development programme involving projects worth about $10 billion, has the potential to link north and south by improving transport and trade between the dynamic economy of behemoth China and the now nearly toothless tigers of southeast Asia.

Some analysts have voiced fears that some of the region's poorer economies risk being overwhelmed by competition from a rapidly expanding China with its currently unbeatable ability to attract foreign direct investment.

Over the next 10 years, the Asian Development Bank and the countries concerned are looking at 11 flagship projects worth between $10 billion and $11 billion to put infrastructure into place in a region still recovering from the ravages of such conflicts as the Vietnam War and the genocide of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Plans include road projects criss-crossing the region and improving railways and ports; developing telecommunications; easing border formalities; sharing power generation as well as flood control and developing tourism.

The issue of border formalities is likely to be a hot topic as members arrive in a capital heavy with security patrols after years of instability to tackle the threat of extremist attacks just weeks after bombers, suspected to have easily circumvented frontier checks, set off bombs that killed more than 180 people on Indonesia's Bali island.

The signing of a tourism agreement during the ASEAN summit on Monday will provide another chance for leaders to review security just days after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Mexico signed up to a breakthrough package of measures that included checks on cargo containers and clamping down on furtive flows of funds to extremist groups.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri may come in for particular attention with her drive to win back visitors to the lost paradise of Bali amid concerns her country can do more to clamp down on militants and overturn its image as the weakest link against extremism in the region.

The aim of the meeting is not only to show that ASEAN is not just a talking shop at which the need for consensus has dulled the ability to make decisions. It must also ensure that lands known for their pristine beaches, year-round sunshine, exotic food and ancient monuments are safe for tourists.

"Security is very important, otherwise this won't mean much," said Severino.

"Terrorism certainly...is of great concern especially because some of these terrorist acts take place in Southeast Asia," he said. "Because of the impact on human life, human security and the economic wellbeing of the region, it's the last thing we need."

Severino cited Bali and the September 11 attacks but declined to say if the meeting would adopt any specific measures.

"Certainly, there is an effort to raise the success rate," he told reporters. "There have been some successes (in Southeast Asia), I would say more successes than failures but we cannot avoid failures altogether -- not in this kind of game."

This year's session has attracted unusual interest, with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee set to attend for the first time, raising the prospect of an east-west corridor that could carry trading ambitions from India, through Myanmar and into Thailand and beyond.

Also due in Phnom Penh, a dusty capital where the air is thick with the smell of sewage, rotting fruit and motorcycle fumes, is a rare out-of-region guest -- South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.

He is unlikely to avoid mention of the threat of AIDS in Cambodia, which boasts the dubious record of the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the region.

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