East Asia Summit

In news– Vice President of India has recently addressed the East Asia Summit.

About the East Asia Summit(EAS)-

The EAS is an ASEAN initiative and refers to the annual Meeting of Heads of States/Governments of these countries, where they are able to discuss common concerns and interests.
Beginning in 2005, 16 participating countries comprised this grouping, with their first meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
These members were the 10 ASEAN countries, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea.
ASEAN’s 10 member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The United States and the Russian Federation joined at the 6th East Asia Summit in 2011.
Its creation was based on the idea of enhancing cooperation among East Asian countries and those in the neighbouring regions.
Six priority areas of cooperation were identified – environment and energy, education, finance, global health issues and pandemic diseases, natural disaster management, and ASEAN Connectivity.

Note: The year 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations and is being celebrated as the ASEAN-India Friendship Year.

About ASEAN-

The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration between its members and countries in Asia-Pacific.
ASEAN’s primary objective is to accelerate economic growth and through that social progress and cultural development.
A secondary objective is to promote regional peace and stability based on the rule of law and the principle of United Nations charter.
ASEAN was preceded by an organisation formed on 31 July 1961 called the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), a group consisting of Thailand, the Philippines, and the Federation of Malaya.
ASEAN itself was created on 8 August 1967, when the foreign ministers of five countries- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, signed the ASEAN Declaration.
Today it comprises Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam.
It is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia.