Bangkok  - The Thai government on Wednesday postponed a regional summit planned next month in Phuket to an unspecified date later this year, citing scheduling problems for some Asian leaders.

"Some countries are holding elections; others have already scheduled official visits," Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said.

He denied that security concerns among Asian leaders were behind the postponement, the second one for the summit.

Thailand had announced plans to host a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its six main partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea - on June 13-14 on the island of Phuket.

The original ASEAN+6 summit, which had gathered 16 leaders in Thailand, had to be cancelled on April 11 after anti-government demonstrators stormed the summit's hotel venue at Pattaya, a beach resort community 100 kilometres south-east of Bangkok.

It was the first ASEAN summit to be canceled because of protests in the group's 42-year history and a major embarrassment for Thailand, which is the ASEAN chair throughout 2009.

Thailand also plans to host an ASEAN Regional Forum in July to which US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton has been invited and the 15th ASEAN Summit in October.

The twice-postponed ASEAN+6 might be tagged onto the ASEAN Regional Forum or incorporated into the 15th ASEAN Summit, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said.

The 14th ASEAN summit was held at the Hua Hin beach resort, 130 kilometres south of Bangkok, on February 28 to March 1, but the side summits with ASEAN's main partners had to be postponed until April because of scheduling difficulties.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.(dpa)