The Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit will also be followed by meetings with global powers including China, the United States and Russia, which are contending for influence in the region.
The timing of the meetings in Vientiane makes it likely that talks will also touch on the escalation of violence in the Middle East, although Southeast Asia has faced only indirect fallout.
This morning the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, participated in the Opening Ceremony of the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits in Viientiane, Lao PDR. The Opening Ceremony was officially opened by H.E. Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of Lao PDR and… — ASEAN (@ASEAN) pic.twitter.com/uFPW3NMe2IOctober 9, 2024
ASEAN's influence has historically been limited even among its own members, but the forum has often served as a platform for dialogues among superpowers looking to engage with the region.
The 10 member of ASEAN - Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos - will also hold talks with others in the region including Japan, South Korea, India and Australia on topics ranging from the economy to climate change.
Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone welcomed new leaders from Thailand and Singapore - Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Lawrence Wong, respectively - to the summit, saying Laos aimed to help members work together to manage geopolitical and economic challenges under its chairmanship.
"We help one another, and work together the ASEAN way," he said.
"We will discuss and strengthen co-operation between ASEAN members and other dialogue partners, along with upholding the unity and centrality of ASEAN."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will fill in for President Joe Biden, while China will be represented by Premier Li Qiang.
"We help one another, and work together the ASEAN way," Laos Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone said. (AP PHOTO)
Frayed US-China relations, particularly over Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea, would be a major agenda item for Blinken, said Dan Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for Asia.
ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, along with Taiwan, have overlapping claims with China, which claims sovereignty over virtually all of the South China Sea and has become increasingly aggressive in attempts to enforce them.
ASEAN members and China have been negotiating a code of conduct to govern behaviour in the sea for years, but progress has been slow.
Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed repeatedly in 2024, and Vietnam charged last week that Chinese forces assaulted its fishermen in disputed areas in the South China Sea.
China has also sent patrol vessels to areas that Indonesia and Malaysia claim as exclusive economic zones.
The Philippines, a longtime US ally, has been critical of other ASEAN countries for not doing more to get China to back away.
Myanmar sent Aung Kyaw Moe (left), its first high-level representative at ASEAN in three years. (AP PHOTO)
ASEAN's credibility has also been severely tested by the crisis in Myanmar, where close to 6000 people have been killed and more than three million displaced since the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
Myanmar's junta has agreed to an ASEAN peace plan that calls for ceasefire and mediation, but has not followed through as it continues battling pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic rebels.
Thailand is expected to host an informal regional consultation on the Myanmar crisis in December.
Its foreign ministry said the meeting would be open to all ASEAN members at a ministerial level and possible to countries with a shared border with Myanmar.
"Thailand is ready to co-ordinate to create a concerted ASEAN effort that will lead to peace in Myanmar," he told reporters.
Myanmar sent foreign ministry permanent secretary Aung Kyaw Moe, its first high-level representative at the summit in three years, after ASEAN barred it from sending political representatives in late 2021.
