Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

U.S. Pledges Increased Engagement with ASEAN at First Summit

U.S. Pledges Increased Engagement with ASEAN at First Summit

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei - Despite the absence of U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pledged at the first ever ASEAN-U.S. Summit held here Wednesday that engagement would continue improving with the regional bloc.

Kerry said he was upbeat about progressive relations and emphasized that Obama's "pivot" to Asia would continue unhindered by the partial U.S. government shutdown.

"We are grateful that our engagement has been raised into a summit. This is a moment when our nations can come together and discuss important issues and the challenges that we know that we face," he noted at the summit, held back-to-back with the 23rd ASEAN Summit.

He also thanked Myanmar for being the coordinator between the U. S. and ASEAN and voiced expectation of increased engagement when Myanmar becomes the next chair of ASEAN in 2014.

"The partnership that we share with ASEAN remains a top priority for the Obama administration and the ties among our nations have been strong for decades now and we know strengthening those ties on security issues, on economic issues and more, on our people-to-people issues are a critical part of President Obama's rebalance to Asia," he added.

He went on to say that the Obama policy towards Asia "will continue to stay onto the future."

He also expressed enthusiasm about attending the East Asia Summit slated for Thursday.

Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who chaired the 23rd ASEAN Summit, outlined previous engagement between the two partners and expressed confidence that it would continue to grow.

Obama cancelled his Asian trip including APEC summit in Bali, Indonesia and East Asia Summit in Brunei to deal with the shutdown of the government because of impasse over budget and debt ceiling. (Xinhua)