March 12, 2025
PETALING JAYA – Malaysia has invited United States President Donald Trump to attend the East Asia Summit, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
According to the Prime Minister, this was conveyed to US Ambassador to Malaysia Edgard D. Kagan during a courtesy call on Tuesday (March 11) evening.
“We also touched on the Asean 2025 chairmanship, particularly the Asean-US Special Summit.
“Malaysia also invited President Trump to attend the East Asia summit that is scheduled to take place at the end of the year,” said Anwar in a Facebook post on Tuesday (March 11).
Also discussed during the courtesy call were bilateral ties between Malaysia and the United States.
“We also focussed on economic and technological cooperation, which has been a mutual interest, aside from the halal certification,” added Anwar.
During Trump’s first presidency in 2017, he attended the Asean Summit when the Philippines was chair. However, he was absent for the subsequent Asean summits.
The previous 12th Asean-US Summit and the East Asia Summit held in October 2024 in Vientiane, Laos were attended by then-US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
In 2023, the East Asia Summit and the 11th Asean-US Summit were attended by then-US vice president Kamala Harris.
Last month, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said Malaysia is making efforts to hold a Special Asean-US Summit.
“We are trying to be balanced so that we don’t lean towards anyone, because we already have the Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council-China Summit. So, Asean will continue to drive the direction as an integrated Asean and continue to remain neutral and not take sides with anyone,” he said.