Australian Government - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Advancing the interests of Australia and Australians internationally

Australian Government - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Advancing the interests of Australia and Australians internationally

The East Asia Summit

The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a regional leaders' forum for strategic dialogue and cooperation on key challenges facing the East Asian region. The EAS is a significant regional grouping with an important role to play in advancing closer regional integration and cooperation at a time of particular dynamism in East Asia. Australia participated, as a founding member, in the inaugural EAS held in Kuala Lumpur on 14 December 2005.

Membership of the EAS comprises the ten ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Russia. The 18 EAS member countries represent collectively 55 per cent of the world's population, account for almost 55 per cent of global GDP (according to IMF purchasing power parity GDP figures), and receive more than 74 per cent of Australia's total exports. The centrepiece of the EAS year is an annual leaders' Summit, usually held back-to-back with the annual ASEAN Summits. In addition, a number of ministerial and senior officials' meetings are held during the year to progress leaders' initiatives.

The Prime Minister attended the Sixth EAS, held in Bali, Indonesia on 19 November 2011. The Summit provided a valuable opportunity for leaders to engage on key strategic, political and economic issues of common concern, with the aim of promoting stability and economic prosperity in the region. For the first time, the EAS was attended by both the United States, represented by President Barack Obama, and Russia, represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. EAS leaders discussed a range of issues at the summit, including economic and financial integration, disaster management, energy, environmental and education cooperation. They also discussed security challenges in the region, including maritime security and the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. Leaders expressed support for efforts to strengthen the foundations for regional and global economic growth. The participation in the summit by both the United States and Russia was a major development in regional architecture and something Australia has worked hard to achieve to help bolster the region's influence.

The Prime Minister announced a number of new initiatives at the Sixth EAS that will contribute to regional development and integration. These included:

  • $24 million to combat infectious diseases in people and animals across the region (part of a $32 million commitment to combat pandemics announced at the fifth EAS in 2010);
  • $1 million to support a disaster coordination secretariat in the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Centre in Jakarta;
  • $8 million to the World Food Programme to improve emergency preparedness in the region;
  • the hosting of two seminars exploring how East Asian cities can become more sustainable and adapt to climate change.

Also at the Sixth EAS, leaders:

  • endorsed a joint Australian and Indonesian plan for enhanced regional cooperation on Disaster Rapid Response;
  • adopted the Declaration of the East Asia Summit on the Principles of Mutually Beneficial Relations;
  • adopted the Declaration of the 6th East Asia Summit on ASEAN Connectivity;
  • tasked Finance Ministers to elaborate further on EAS financial cooperation at a second EAS Finance Ministers meeting in 2012;
  • welcomed the plan to convene the EAS Education Ministers Meeting on a biennial basis commencing in 2012 and develop an EAS Education Cooperation Action Plan;
  • agreed to sustain momentum in regional economic integration within the EAS, including through the establishment of new Working Groups on Trade in Goods, Trade in Investment and Trade in Services;
  • committed to strengthening the EAS as an institution through regular meetings of EAS Foreign Ministers and by enhancing the ASEAN Secretariat’s capacity to service the EAS agenda.

East Asia Summit documents

Previous East Asia Summit documents

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