Australia-ASEAN summit held in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Australia - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed Southeast Asian leaders to Melbourne for a special summit to celebrate his country's 50 years of cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, being held in Melbourne from Monday through Wednesday, marks 50 years since Australia became the first dialogue partner of ASEAN.

In a statement issued ahead of the three-day summit, Albanese said meetings would focus on boosting economic engagement between Australia and the region, supporting an accelerating clean energy transition, increasing maritime cooperation and supporting emerging leaders.

In addition to the leaders of member nations of ASEAN, the summit will also be attended by the leader of Timor-Leste. The bloc agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste as its 11th member in November 2022.

As a bloc, ASEAN is Australia's second-largest two-way trading partner behind only China.