27th ASEAN Summit held at Kuala Lumpur

The 27th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit was held on 21 November 2015 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The theme for the 2015 summit was Our People, Our Community, Our Vision.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was the Chairperson of the summit that was held from 18 November 2015 to 22 November 2015.

The Summit was attended by the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Highlights of the Summit
• One of the anticipated highlights of the summit was the declaration by ASEAN Leaders on the establishment of the ASEAN Community by 31 December 2015.
• Along with the launch of the ASEAN Community, the ASEAN Leaders also issued the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2015: Forging Ahead Together.
• The ASEAN post-2015 vision was also launched to chart the path of the ASEAN Community in the next ten years.
• The leaders also engaged with the Heads of Government of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.

India's participation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi represented India at the 27th ASEAN summit and drew attention of world leaders to India and invited them to invest in India.

About ASEAN Chair, Summits and Themes
ASEAN was established in 1967 by the five founding members namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia joined later. The Summit is ASEAN's highest policy-making body.

The chair of the ASEAN Summit rotates annually in alphabetical order of the English names of Member States.

By virtue of holding the chair of the ASEAN for a particular year, the concerned member state also chairs the ASEAN Summit and related summits. Further, ASEAN Summits are held bi-annually but with a common theme.

The 26th ASEAN Summit was held at Kuala Lumpur & Langkawi, Malaysia between 26 and 28 April 2015 with the same theme Our People, Our Community, Our Vision.

In 2014, the chair was with Myanmar, hence the 24th and 25th ASEAN Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar in May and November. The theme was Moving forward in Unity to a Peaceful and Prosperous Community.

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