Hanoi - Asean leaders will hold a series of summits with the United States, Russia, India, Australia and New Zealand in coming months as the grouping intensifies its diplomatic engagement with major powers.
Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations would meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington in September as part of the annual Asean-US leaders meeting.
The summit was originally scheduled for the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York but the Obama administration switched it to the US capital to highlight the special US-Asean relationship. The leaders met for the first time last November in Singapore.
At the end of October, Asean leaders will meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Hanoi for the second Asean-Russia Summit. The first was held in Kuala Lumpur in 2005.
Kasit said Asean had also endorsed a summit with India in 2012. India became a sector dialogue partner of Asean in 1992. Since then, its ties with Asean have strengthened, as it has become a full dialogue partner and a founding member of the East Asia Summit (EAS).
Two additional summits are planned for Australia in 2014 and New Zealand in 2015 for their 40th anniversaries of relations, respectively.
Kasit said Asean would invite the United States and Russia to join the EAS next year. "The mode of their participation has yet to be worked out by senior officials," he said.
Last week, the United States indicated keen interest in participating in the EAS. The EAS, Kasit said, would remain a comprehensive strategic forum for its members to discuss issues that affect Asean.
For the past two years, Asean has discussed a new regional architecture after pressure from Australia and Japan, which presented separate versions of region-building.
Kasit said an additional 10 countries had expressed interest in presenting accreditation to the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta. More than 40 countries have done so in the past year and a half.