20th East Asia Summit reaffirms commitment to peace, stability

The 20th East Asia Summit has adopted the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, reaffirming its commitment to peace and stability. The declaration called for close partnerships with other participating countries to promote strategic trust and to ensure transparent, predictable, and responsible behaviour in regional and international affairs. The declaration also emphasised the importance of exchanging information on regional development cooperation, security policies, disaster management and discussions on the evolving regional architecture.
The statement underlined how it recognises that the region and the world are facing geopolitical tensions and conflicts, economic challenges, and current and emerging security and other transboundary challenges that require collective collaboration for peace as well as social and economic progress. It called to support ASEAN's continuous efforts to mainstream and implement the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), while reaffirming that the AOIP is intended to enhance the ASEAN Community-building process as well as strengthen and complement cooperation with partners.
The statement noted, its "commitment to the East Asia Summit, sitting at the apex of the ASEANcentred regional architecture, as a Leaders-led forum for dialogue and cooperation on broad strategic, political and economic issues of common interest and concern, with the aim of promoting peace, stability and economic prosperity in East Asia". It further added, "The East Asia Summit commits to enhance dialogue and its role in upholding and promoting international law in the region. We underscore the importance of enhancing mutual understanding, respect, trust and friendship, as well as settlement of differences and disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law, and with the common interest to maintain, promote, and sustain peace, stability, and prosperity in the region".