ASEAN Foreign Ministers Convene Meeting Under the Shadow of Iran War, Regional Crises |
ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia
ASEAN Foreign Ministers Convene Meeting Under the Shadow of Iran War, Regional Crises
The bloc’s foreign ministers are set to call for “the restoration of the safe, unimpeded, and continuous transit passage of vessels and aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz.”
ASEAN foreign ministers pose for a photo during the opening ceremony of the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Manila, Philippines, Jul. 21, 2026.
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) formally opened their annual meeting in Manila this morning with a call for unity in the face of maritime tensions and growing global instability.
In her opening address at the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said that in a world marked by “upheaval, uncertainty and unpredictability,” the region had to respond with “active, deliberate problem solving.”
“In a fractured global landscape, no single nation can weather these storms alone. Our strength and resilience lie in our community,” she said. “If we do not move forward as one, we risk being pulled apart.”
Today’s meeting kicks off a week of diplomatic conclaves in Manila, involving their counterparts from the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and numerous other countries.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are among the confirmed attendees for the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum, both of which will be held on Thursday. These major summits will be interspersed with dozens of sideline bilateral meetings between representatives of the participating nations.
Regional security issues are expected to dominate the meetings, including renewed fighting in the Middle East, ongoing tensions in the South China Sea, and efforts to revive ASEAN’s stalled initiative for resolving the conflict in Myanmar.
The Associated Press reported yesterday that at today’s meeting, ASEAN’s foreign ministers were set to express their alarm about the renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran and threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, on which the region is heavily dependent for its supplies of crude oil.
In a draft statement of concern, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, the bloc’s foreign ministers “called for the restoration of the safe, unimpeded, and continuous transit passage of vessels and aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“We underscored the importance of maintaining regional peace, stability and prosperity, upholding international law … including the need for a complete and immediate cessation of hostilities across all fronts in the Middle East,” they said in the statement, which the AP said would be made public after the meeting.
“We acknowledged the further implications of the continued tensions in the Middle East on regional trade, energy and food security, including energy markets and supply chains, agricultural production.”
The week is also expected to see renewed efforts on the regional energy security front, including the ongoing push for ratification of the bloc’s Framework Agreement on Petroleum Security fuel-sharing plan. The purpose of the plan is “to enable coordinated emergency fuel sharing and collective responses to supply disruption,” Philippine Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said in........