The East Asia Summit

Gathering for the East Asia Summit Seminar on Maritime Security and International Law in Kuala Lumpur, 2019.

The East Asia Summit (EAS) is the Indo-Pacific's premier forum for strategic dialogue. It is the only leader-led forum at which all key partners meet to discuss the full range of political, security and economic challenges facing the Indo-Pacific, and has an important role to play in advancing closer regional cooperation. Australia participated, as a founding member, in the inaugural EAS held in Kuala Lumpur on 14 December 2005.

The EAS has 18 members - the ten ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) along with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Russia. This represents 54 per cent of the world's population and accounts for around 58 per cent of global GDP worth an estimated US$49.4 trillion. In 2017-18, Australia's two-way trade with EAS countries was worth around A$564 billion, 71 per cent of Australia's total two-way trade.