To enhance influence in Southeast Asia, particularly amid competition from other partners of ASEAN, the United States has recently expressed interest to join the East Asia Summit (EAS), a regional macro-level dialogue platform gathering ten ASEAN member states and six partners including China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand.
At the EAS Foreign Ministers' Informal Consultations here Wednesday, ministers expressed support for the United States to join the EAS and decided to present the issue at the 17th ASEAN Summit to be held later this year for a formal decision.
The ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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East Asian FMs welcome U.S., Russia's interest to join EAS
HANOI, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers attending the East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers' Informal Consultations here Wednesday welcomed the interest expressed by the United States and Russia to join EAS.
The ministers expressed their support for the United States and Russia's willingness to become EAS members and would recommend to the ASEAN leaders for a formal decision on the joining of the two countries at the 17th ASEAN Summit to be held later this year, said the meeting's spokesperson Tran Ngoc An at a news briefing here. Full story
