Asia-Pacific Summits 101
8 August 2024
Here are some basic things to know about three of the major multilateral summits happening later 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. Laos is the 2024 chair of ASEAN and this year's summit will run from October 6-11.
Next ASEAN Summit hosts:
2025 - Malaysia
2026 - The Philippines
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 2024 chair is Laos.
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.
The 19th East Asia Summit will be held alongside the ASEAN summit, running October 6-11.
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 2024, APEC will be chaired by Peru - the country's third time in the role. In late 2023, Ambassador Carlos Vasquez, the 2024 Chair of APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting announced Peru's overarching theme for APEC 2024: “Empower. Include. Grow.”
This theme covers three priorities:
Trade and investment for inclusive and interconnected growth.
Innovation and digitalization to promote transition to the formal and global economy.
Sustainable growth for resilient development.
One of the major APEC events, the APEC Economic Leaders' Week will be held November 10-16.
Next APEC hosts:
2025 - South Korea
2026 - Australia
– Asia Media Centre