Myanmar tops Asean meet

Full of grace: Traditional dancers performing during the opening ceremony of the 55th Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh. — AP

Top South-East Asian diplomats meeting in Cambodia’s capital intensified efforts to stop the escalating violence in Myanmar, and to address other pressing – and often divisive – regional issues.

It is the first in-person meeting of the Asean foreign ministers since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has weakened economies and complicated diplomacy, and comes at a time of increased tensions between the United States and China, as well as global increases in food and energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.