But last weekend, ASEAN's consensus style produced agreement during a one-day informal summit of the seven members in Jakarta.

CNN: No, Not Yet, Myanmar

In December, the ASEAN 10 will hold an informal summit in Kuala Lumpur to which the leaders of China, South Korea and Japan are invited.

CNN: AND THEN THERE WERE TEN

The European Union is to hold an informal summit in Klagenfurt, Austria, to discuss the world economy, EU expansion into eastern Europe and the crisis in Kosovo.

CNN: Saturday,

The same day it was announced that Zhu would make an ASEAN tour starting Nov. 22 and represent China at the ASEAN-East Asian informal summit in Manila.

CNN: ASIANOW - Asiaweek | The Week Ahead | Ascendant Zhu?

Starting with the informal summit this week, it is time for the next step down the long and winding road to joint and several liability of eurozone debt.

CNN: Opinion: Greeks prefer Europe to its own politicians

The leaders of the 27 EU nations began the summit with an informal dinner, and later continued their talks behind closed doors.

BBC: Eurozone crisis: Late night summit talks to save euro

This is the fourth summit in four years, and I think -- at least by my informal count -- the President has held eight bilateral summit meetings with individual ASEAN leaders.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

The G20 summit may have begun an informal process of widening the scope of global government.

BBC: G8 set to tackle hunger in Africa