"Some important regions, such as Southeast Asia, show a tremendous opportunity," President Obama said when delivering the opening remarks at the US-ASEAN Summit held in Sunnylands, California, Monday afternoon local time.
Obama said that the United States, as part of the Pacific group of nations, will perform a rebalancing of its foreign policy. "And play a more important role, which is greater in Asia Pacific," he added.
That role, he noted, included the involvement of the US in ASEAN, which was the key to prosperity and peace. "And to our common goal in building the region," he said.
The USA is hosting the meeting for the first time. Sunnylands was chosen as the venue, since it is not suffering from a harsh winter, as is Washington D.C.
The US-ASEAN summit is the seventh meeting between the US and ASEAN, and is expected to become a forum for cooperation and a stabilizing force in the Asia Pacific region.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
