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ASEAN leaders decide to strip Myanmar of rotating chairmanship of association in 2026

The Indonesian foreign minister added that the association's leaders would form a task force to address the Myanmar issue

TOKYO, September 5. /TASS/. The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) decided not to hand over the organization’s rotating chairmanship to Myanmar in 2026, Indonesia’s Antara news agency quoted the country’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi as saying.

"It has been agreed that the Philippines will chair ASEAN in 2026, and ASEAN is committed to continuing humanitarian assistance [to Myanmar]," the agency quoted Marsudi as saying. She also said that the association's leaders will form a task force to address the Myanmar issue, which will include Indonesia (this year’s chair country), Laos and Malaysia (the chair countries in 2024 and 2025, respectively).

The order of ASEAN rotating chairmanship is determined by the alphabetical order of countries based on their names in English. Myanmar was scheduled to take over in 2026 and the Philippines in 2027.

The ASEAN Summit, as well as related meetings with the participation of representatives of invited states and regions, is being held on September 5-7 in Jakarta. The sides will discuss integration and enhanced cooperation in a number of areas, as well as regional issues.

ASEAN was founded in 1967 and includes 10 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

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