ISTANBUL
US President Donald Trump attended the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, his first since the 2017 meeting in the Philippines.
Trump joined host Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, and other regional leaders for a family photo at the summit.
Following the photo session, Trump attended a working session with US-ASEAN leaders.
“I'm here on a mission of friendship and goodwill and to deepen our ties of commerce, to strengthen our common security and to really promote strongly stability, prosperity and peace for all of the countries in this room and long beyond this room,” he said.
Trump said that as part of his Asia tour, he will sign or be nearing completion on trade deals with Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan and South Korea.
“We're delighted to forge richer partnerships on energy technology, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, and other industries,” he said.
The gathering represents the 13th summit between the US and ASEAN. Former President Joe Biden last attended such a summit in person in 2022 in Indonesia.
Addressing to the summit, Anwar said the two sides will adopt a joint vision statement for “prosperous ASEAN and America” to turn cooperation into tangible benefits.
He added the bilateral trade volume between the Southeast Asian bloc and US, the world’s largest economy, climbed to $453 billion last year.
ASEAN was founded in Bangkok on Aug. 8, 1967, and includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Leaders welcomed Timor-Leste as ASEAN's 11th member, marking the bloc's first expansion in 26 years.
Trump is on a three-country Asia tour. After Malaysia, he will travel to Japan to meet the new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, and then proceed to South Korea, where he will also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.