About East Asia Summit (EAS):
- It is the Indo-Pacific’s premier forum for strategic dialogue.
- It is the only leader-led forum at which all key Indo-Pacific partners meet to discuss political, security, and economic challenges facing the region.
- It was established in 2005 with the convening of the 1st Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Members:
- The EAS has 19 members: the 11 ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam) along with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States.
- Timor-Leste became the latest member of the EAS following its ASEAN accession on 26 October 2025.
- India is a founding member of EAS.
- ASEAN leads the forum, and the chair rotates annually among ASEAN member states.
- Six priority areas of regional cooperation within the framework of the EAS:
- Environment and Energy,
- Education,
- Finance,
- Global Health Issues and Pandemic Diseases,
- Natural Disaster Management, and
- ASEAN Connectivity.
- The EAS is an annual Leaders' Summit usually held in October or November.
- Along with the Leaders' Summit, each year there is an EAS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and an EAS Economic Ministers’ Meeting.
- Senior officials of EAS participating countries meet throughout the year to prepare for meetings of leaders and ministers and to engage in frank exchanges of views on political, regional security, economic, and other issues.
