Money and Finance

East Asia Summit (EAS)

The East Asia Summit is a regional leaders' forum for strategic dialogue and cooperation on key challenges facing the East Asian region. It is held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian region. Membership expanded to 18 economies including the United States and the Russian Federation at the Sixth EAS in 2011.

Membership of the EAS comprises the ten ASEAN countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam), Australia, the People's Republic of China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United States and the Russian Federation.

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The centrepiece of the EAS' year is an annual leaders' Summit, usually held back-to-back with the annual ASEAN leaders' meetings. In addition, ministerial and senior officials' meetings are held during the year to take forward leaders' initiatives. The first summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 14 December 2005.

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