MANILA, Philippines — Heads of state and governments, as well as heads of multilateral organizations, will be converging in Manila from November 15 to 17 for the 49th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits.
The week-long event is the biggest in Manila’s chairmanship of the regional bloc and the most consequential, at least in flexing the bloc’s “unique convening power and continued role as a platform for dialogue and cooperation with the wider international community,” according to a press statement from the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Leaders are expected to discuss “ASEAN’s collective capacity to address emerging regional and global challenges, including the situation in Myanmar.”
ASEAN has had to contend with instability in the supply and price of oil, no thanks to the war the US and Israel waged on Iran. ASEAN leaders are expected, as they had in previous years, to review progress or lack thereof in Myanmar’s adherence to the Five-Point Consensus or the ASEAN-adopted peace plan for its Southeast Asian sibling.
Manila had hoped to conclude the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea negotiations between ASEAN and China by 2026, as agreed upon by foreign ministers in 2023. Negotiations are far from over and no code is expected by mid-November 2026.
