Asean leaders meet amid Myanmar crisis, South China Sea tensions

MANILA: The 49th Asean Summit and Related Summits opened in Manila, the Philippines, today, with the Myanmar crisis and tensions in the South China Sea expected to be among the main issues discussed.

Leaders of member states, including Malaysia, are expected to discuss a range of regional issues.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim attended the opening ceremony at the Philippine International Convention Centre (PICC) this morning.

Anwar and his wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, were received by Philippine President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr, who is chairing Asean.

Leaders of member states, including Anwar, were transported to the main hall of the PICC in locally made electric tricycles, known as E-Trikes.

The opening ceremony began with an address by Marcos, followed by the presentation of the Asean Awards.

In his speech, Marcos said no member state possessed all the resources and capabilities needed to meet the challenges facing the region, stressing the importance of regional cooperation in strengthening the capacity of each country.

"Geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, the emergence of new technologies, climate change and transnational threats are reshaping our region faster than any single country can respond on its own," he said at the opening of the 49th Asean Summit and Related Summits at the PICC today.

The opening ceremony was followed by the plenary session and retreat session of Asean leaders.

Anwar was accompanied by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani.

He also joined other Asean leaders in separate meetings with representatives of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), the Asean Business Advisory Council (Asean-BAC) and Asean youth.

This afternoon, Anwar is scheduled to receive a courtesy call from Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Masato Kanda.

The summit provides Malaysia with an opportunity to exchange views on Asean community-building and the bloc's future direction.

Discussions are expected to focus, among other things, on strengthening regional resilience, energy security and supply chains amid global uncertainty.

Leaders are also expected to review the implementation of Asean's Five-Point Consensus (5PC) on Myanmar and discuss the next course of action.

In addition to transboundary haze, the bloc is also expected to discuss maritime security, following developments in negotiations on the South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC), as well as the West Asia crisis.