ASEAN leaders and their spouses pose for pictures during the Gala Dinner for the leaders of the 34th ASEAN Summit at the Athenee Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand June 22, 2019. Picture taken June 22, 2019. Seen here are Chairman of 34th ASEAN Summit Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, his wife Naraporn Chan-ocha, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, his wife Ho Ching, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, his wife Iriana, Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, his wife Naly, Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, his wife Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his wife Tran Nguyet Thu. Thailand Government House/Handout via REUTERS
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Southeast Asian leaders agreed on Sunday to work together on the region's economy and security to strengthen their position to face growing U.S.-China tensions, as they wrapped up their summit in Bangkok.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will need its collective economic strength for bargaining power globally, especially amid the trade tensions between the world's top two economies, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told a news conference, as chairman of the 34th ASEAN Summit.