ASEAN Leaders Hope Obama’s Style of Engagement Will Continue

Sunnylands, California (PNA/Bernama) — ASEAN leaders hope that United States President Barack Obama’s attention and priority towards the grouping will be continued and sustained by future US presidents, said Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said leaders from all 10 Southeast Asian countries had acknowledged that the US-ASEAN relationship was as important as the bloc with China.

“The fact that President Obama gave up his public holiday (today is the President’s Day) and held the US-ASEAN Leaders Summit has shown Washington’s recognition towards the importance of ASEAN,” Najib told Malaysian journalists Monday (Tuesday in Malaysia) at the end of the first day of the two-day summit here.

Najib said ASEAN with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 2.4 trillion (RM10 trillion) and a population of more than 600 million with a growing middle class group was an important partner to US.

US, on the other hand, considers its engagement with the region, a strategically important and economically dynamic region at the heart of the Asia-Pacific, is a central pillar of the US rebalance to Asia. (PNA/Bernama) SCS/JFM/CDN