ASEAN top diplomats gather in Indonesia for regional summit

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) – The 56th meeting of the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began on Tuesday in Indonesia.

The top diplomats of ASEAN countries are likely to discuss the ongoing crisis in Myanmar and tensions in the South China Sea.

The bloc's Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn early Tuesday briefed the foreign ministers on the implementation of the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty Plan of Action (2023-2027), a brief statement by the grouping said on Twitter.

The summit will be attended by some 29 countries, along with the ASEAN Secretariat and the European Union, and more than 1,100 delegates, according to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are also expected to attend the summit which will continue till July 14.

Indonesia is the chair of ASEAN for 2023, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

ASEAN is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, and sociocultural integration between its members in Asia-Pacific.