JAKARTA (Xinhua): Indonesian President Joko Widodo (pic) is scheduled to fly to the United States on Tuesday (May 10) to attend the US-Asean Special Summit which will be held in Washington D.C. on May 12, said the country's presidential secretariat.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Heru Budi Hartono said the president is expected to return to Indonesia from the United States on Sunday morning.
The conference will begin with a series of meetings on Thursday with the summit being held on Friday, when US President Joe Biden will meet with the region's leaders.
The upcoming special summit is the second US-Asean Special Summit since 2016 and it will be the first in-person engagement for Asean leaders and the US president since 2017.
According to a statement on the website of the Asean Secretariat, the region's leaders and Biden will meet to discuss ways and means to intensify cooperation in Covid-19 response, climate change, maritime cooperation, and people-to-people ties, as well as connectivity and economic engagement.
Founded in 1967, Asean comprises 10 countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The chairmanship of the regional bloc for 2022 is held by Cambodia while Indonesia is the country coordinator for Asean and the United States.
