Washington. US Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Jakarta from Sept. 4 to 7 to take part in the US-ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit to engage with leaders from the Indo-Pacific, the White House announced on Tuesday.

This is the vice president’s third trip to Southeast Asia in the past two years and builds on her August 2021 visit to Singapore and Vietnam and her November 2022 visit to Thailand and the Philippines.

Harris and ASEAN leaders will review “the unprecedented expansion in US-ASEAN relations” under the Biden Administration and she will “reaffirm the United States’ enduring commitment to Southeast Asia and ASEAN centrality”, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was quoted as saying on the White House website. 

“Throughout these summits and her additional engagements, the vice president will advance initiatives to promote our shared prosperity and security, including by advancing our work on the climate crisis, maritime security, infrastructure, economic growth, efforts to uphold and strengthen international rules and norms in the region, and other regional and global challenges,” Jean-Pierre said.
 
President Joe Biden participated in the US-ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November 2022, six months after he hosted the historic US-ASEAN Special Summit in Washington DC.