Statement by the Press Secretary on the U.S.-ASEAN Summit

As the President announced in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last month, he will host leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year. The summit will take place at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California on February 15-16, 2016.  This unprecedented gathering – the first hosted by the United States with the ASEAN leaders — builds on the deeper partnership that the United States has forged with ASEAN since 2009 and will further advance the Administration’s rebalance to Asia and the Pacific.  For nearly 40 years, the United States and ASEAN have worked toward stability, prosperity, and peace in Southeast Asia.  This summit will provide leaders a forum to strengthen cooperation under the new U.S.-ASEAN strategic partnership, launched in November 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, on political, security, and economic issues.