ASEAN summit: Who’s attending and what’s at stake?

The Manila summit will be held from November 15 to 17 and will include US President Donald Trump and several other world leaders. The 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) aims to establish a single market, although it cannot impose decisions on members.

It comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and East Timor, with a combined population of nearly 694 million, or 8.4 percent of the world’s population. The summit is being held at a time when Southeast Asian countries have been hit hard by shortages in oil and gas supplies from Middle Eastern suppliers amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

The Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia are among the most vulnerable to the energy disruptions in the Gulf, with Manila declaring a state of national energy emergency in March. Meanwhile, Asian countries are worried the conflict could spill into the Strait of Malacca, a narrow waterway between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.