Recently, the 20th East Asia Summit has adopted the Kuala Lumpur Declaration.

About East Asia Summit
The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a premier, Leaders-led forum for dialogue and cooperation on broad strategic, political, and economic issues of common interest, aimed at promoting peace, stability, and economic prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

Key Facts

Feature	Details
Established	2005, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Purpose	To promote regional peace, security, and socio-economic prosperity, particularly by discussing broad strategic challenges at the highest level.
Leadership	The EAS is an ASEAN-led process, and its meetings are held back-to-back with the annual ASEAN leaders' meetings.
Nature	It maintains an informal nature to encourage candid and interactive discussions among leaders.

 
EAS Members (The 18 Countries)
The EAS membership consists of all 10 ASEAN member states plus 8 other major regional powers, making it an ASEAN Plus Eight format.

Group	Member Countries
10 ASEAN States	Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
8 Dialogue Partners	Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Russia, and the United States.
Note: The US and Russia were formally invited to join the Summit in 2011.

 
Priority Areas of Cooperation
The EAS focuses on issues of strategic significance to the region, with designated priority areas for cooperation:

• Peace and Security: Discussing major geopolitical issues, maritime security (e.g., South China Sea), and counter-terrorism.
• Economic Cooperation: Enhancing trade integration, financial stability, and strengthening supply chain resilience.
• Sustainable Development: Environment and energy, including climate change and energy security.
• Socio-Cultural: Education cooperation, global health issues (e.g., pandemic diseases), and cultural ties.
• Regional Challenges: Natural Disaster Management and strengthening ASEAN Connectivity (infrastructure, digital links).

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