The Wire

The nine leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, arrived in Melbourne on Monday for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit 2024. This celebrated the 50-year anniversary since Australia became ASEAN’s first dialogue partner.

The goals of the summit were to deepen the partnerships between Australia and its northern neighbors in areas of trade, climate change, business, and defense. The summit comes in a time when Australia and some ASEAN member states are experiencing heightened tensions with China.