Malaysian PM to head delegation to Asean-US Summit in Washington

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The Malaysian delegation to the ASEAN-US Special Summit, which will be held in Washington from May 12 to 13, will be led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah said the Prime Minister would be accompanied to the special summit by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.

The conference will kick off with a series of meetings on May 12, followed by the summit at 3 pm on May 13, when US President Joe Biden will meet with ASEAN heads of state.

According to Saifuddin, the prime minister is expected to raise a number of regional and international issues during the meeting, including Myanmar.

"Malaysia considers this meeting important because the United States is one of ASEAN's dialogue partners," he told reporters on Saturday.

Apart from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Myanmar junta Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, all eight ASEAN heads of government will attend the special summit.

Duterte is unable to attend due to the country's elections, and Myanmar junta Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was not invited due to the country's internal political turmoil.

The United States last hosted the special summit in February 2016 in Sunnylands, California.

The summit was scheduled to take place in Las Vegas in March 2020, but it was canceled due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

It is worth mentioning that Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam formed ASEAN in 1967.

Cambodia is the ASEAN Chair for 2022, while Indonesia is the ASEAN and US Country Coordinator.