NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (UPDATED) – United States President Barack Obama continues his country’s pivot towards Asia as he vows to strengthen American partnership with ASEAN member countries at the ASEAN-US Summit here.

“Today I’m looking forward to continuing to build on the strong partnership between ASEAN and the United States that already exists,” he told ASEAN heads of state on Thursday, November 13.

“As already been noted in the EAS (East Asia Summit) that we just attended, ASEAN is at the heart of Asia’s rapid growth. Its people are ambitious and energetic, talented.”

Obama praised the “great strides” the US has made in the past 6 years “in elevating and expanding this partnership,” before adding, “but I think we all agree we can still do more.”

“That’s why the US is committed to strenghtening ASEAN both as an instiution and as a community of nations bound by our shared interests and values,” he said.

“So whether we are working on economic issues, social issues, security issues, disaster relief, enhancing educational opportunities or all the young people of the region, and strengthening public health infrastructure  to ensure that we can handle an outbreak of disease, in each and everyone of these cases I believe we are going to be stronger together than when we act individually.”

Obama also said the United States would focus on the region as a whole and not just on specific nations.

“We are very much invested in building capacity not just of individual nations but also in between nations so we become stronger, more capable partners of each other,” he said.

Obama is in Asia to convince international partners that he can still assert his presence at home when it comes to steering foreign relations in his final two years in the White House.

The US president will also try to counterbalance China’s dominance in the region.

Diverse issues

At the summit, nations discussed efforts on ensuring realization of the Plan of Action to implement the ASEAN-US Enhanced Partnership for Ensuring Peace and Prosperity (2011-2015).

They also vowed to continue working together to establish peace, security and stability in the region and the South China Sea, and to enhance maritime security cooperation.

Member nations and the United States also agreed to work together to address extremist foreign fighters, cybercrime, climate change, disease prevention, disaster management, and the trafficking of drugs, humans and arms.

Other disucssions revolved around the implementation of the Expanded Econmic Engagement (E3) intitiative to enhance trade and investment, the Master Plan on ASEAN Connecitivty (MPAC), ASEAN Strategic Transport Plan 2011-2015 and the ASEAN-US Scholarship Program. – Rappler.com