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President Joe Biden will host leaders of the Affiliation of Southeast Asian nations in Washington subsequent month for a summit, the White House stated Saturday.
The Could 12-13 gathering is supposed to exhibit the USA’ dedication to being a associate with international locations within the area.
The White Home beforehand had introduced that the summit could be held March 28-29, however the regional grouping of nations often called ASEAN sought a postponement attributable to scheduling issues amongst a few of its members.
The summit will commemorate 45 years of relations between the U.S. and the ASEAN nations. The gathering follows Biden’s participation in an October 2021 summit the place he introduced $102 million in new initiatives to assist these international locations with COVID-19 and well being safety, local weather change, financial progress and gender equality.
“It’s a high precedence for the Biden-Harris Administration to function a robust, dependable associate in Southeast Asia,” White Home press secretary Jen Psaki stated Saturday in an announcement. “Our shared aspirations for the area will proceed to underpin our frequent dedication to advance an Indo-Pacific that’s free and open, safe, related, and resilient.”
ASEAN’s 10 members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Its members have been at odds with one another over Myanmar, which has been wracked by violent unrest for the reason that military ousted the elected authorities of Aung San Suu Kyi in February final yr.
ASEAN is searching for to implement a five-point plan for Myanmar it reached final yr stressing dialogue, humanitarian help and an finish to violence. However Myanmar’s ruling navy council has delayed the plan’s implementation even because the nation has slipped right into a state of affairs that some U.N. consultants have described as civil conflict.
Myanmar’s lack of cooperation led ASEAN final yr to bar its chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, from attending its annual summit assembly, an unprecedented step for the physique whose members historically have averted public criticism of one another and have operated by consensus.
It has utilized an analogous coverage for subsequent conferences, saying that it could enable Myanmar to ship solely non-political representatives.
Biden hosted Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, for talks final month by which the president tried to guarantee Singapore and different Pacific allies that the administration stays centered on the area even whereas working with Europe and different allies to finish Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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