Senior Officials of East Asia Summit Meet in Manila
24 May 2017, Manila – Senior Officials (SOM) of the East Asia Summit (EAS) converged at the Manila Marriott Hotel on 23 May 2017 to prepare for the 7th EAS Foreign Ministers Meeting (FMM) scheduled in August and the 12th EAS in November.
The EAS SOM was attended by the Senior Officials from the 10 Member States of ASEAN (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and the United States of America. It was chaired by Assistant Secretary Ma. Hellen B. De La Vega of the Office of ASEAN Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Acting Philippine EAS SOM Leader.
The EAS SOM discussed the preparations for the 7th EAS FMM that will be held on 7 August 2017 at the Philippine International Convention Center. They also exchanged views on pressing regional and international issues, particularly on the escalating tension in the Korean peninsula; the developments in the South China Sea and the recently successful conclusion of the negotiations of the Framework on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea; and the importance of addressing terrorism, violent extremism and other non-traditional security threats faced by the region, among others. The Meeting also considered possible outcome documents that will be issued during the 12th EAS on 14 November 2017.
The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political, and economic issues of common interest and concern with the aim of promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia. It strives to strengthen global norms and universally-recognized values with the ASEAN as the driving force working in partnership with the other participants of the EAS.
The concept of an East Asia Grouping has its roots in an idea first promoted in 1991 by then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad for an East Asia Economic Caucus. The idea was formally introduced at the ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Manila in 1999.
The 1st EAS was held in Kuala Lumpur on 14 December 2005. The founding members of the EAS are the ten (10) ASEAN Member States, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India, New Zealand and Australia. Russia and the United States (US) joined the EAS in 2011 during the 6th EAS in Bali, Indonesia.
The EAS priority areas of cooperation are energy, education, finance, global health issues including pandemic diseases, environment and disaster management and connectivity. END