Asia-Pacific Summits 101
13 January 2025
From ASEAN to APEC, annual summits help country leaders meet and discuss the world's biggest issues. But what exactly is the difference between them all? Here are some basic things to know about three of the major multilateral summits happening across Asia this year.
ASEAN Summit
What: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional grouping, comprising 10 member-states in Southeast Asia, focused on regional collaboration and prosperity. The ASEAN Summit is a semi-annual gathering of these 10 leaders. ASEAN also conducts one meeting per year with its external dialogue partners, including New Zealand.
The chairmanship of ASEAN rotates among the 10 member-states annually. Malaysia is the 2025 chair of ASEAN.
Next ASEAN Summit hosts:
2026 - The Philippines
2027 - Singapore
Read analysis about the 2025 year for Malaysia here:
Malaysia’s Turn in the ASEAN Hotseat - The Diplomat
Malaysia's ASEAN chairmanship and Anwar’s triple axis strategy - The Jakarta Post
East Asia Summit
What: The East Asia Summit (EAS) is annual leaders’ forum focused on regional cooperation and strategic dialogue on security, political, and economic issues. Traditionally, the chair of the EAS is the current ASEAN Chair, meaning the 2025 chair is Malaysia.
The EAS has 18 members: The 10 ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) as well as Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Russia.
The EAS membership represents around 54 percent of the world’s population and accounts for 58 percent of global GDP. The event can only be chaired by an ASEAN member. New Zealand attended the first EAS in 2005.
2025 will mark the 20th anniversary of the EAS. The keystone event in the EAS calendar is the annual Leaders' Summit, which is usually held alongside ASEAN Leaders' meetings.
APEC
What: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an annual regional economic forum founded in 1989 with 21 Asia-Pacific members, focused on regional economic integration, and trade and investment liberalisation. New Zealand is a founding member.
At present, all member economies border the Pacific Ocean.
In 2025, APEC will be chaired by South Korea - the country's first time hosting in 20 years. The theme for APEC this year will be: “Building a Sustainable Tomorrow: Connect, Innovate, Prosper”.
Next APEC hosts:
2026 - China
2027 - Vietnam
Banner image: an image from the 14th ASEAN-UN Summit, held in October 2024.
– Asia Media Centre