About EAS

• The East Asia Summit (EAS) is the Indo-Pacific’s premier forum for strategic dialogue. 
• It is the only leader-led forum at which 18 key Indo-Pacific partners meet to discuss political, security and economic challenges facing the region, and has an important role to play in advancing closer regional cooperation. 

Membership

• Established in 2005, EAS allows the principal players in the Asia-Pacific region to discuss issues of common interest and concern at the highest level. 
• The membership of EAS consists of ten ASEAN Member States (i.e. Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam), Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and the USA. 

• India is a founding member of EAS.
• EAS is an initiative of ASEAN and is based on the premise of the centrality of ASEAN. EAS can only be chaired by an ASEAN member.

Priority areas

• There are six priority areas of regional cooperation within the framework of the EAS. These are – Environment and Energy, Education, Finance, Global Health Issues and Pandemic Diseases, Natural Disaster Management, and ASEAN Connectivity. 
• India endorses regional collaboration in all six priority areas. 

Why in News?

• Prime Minister (PM) attended the 19th East Asia Summit (EAS) on 11 October 2024 in Vientiane, Laos.