Authors: Joanne Lin|Kristina Fong Siew Leng|Melinda Martinus

Published: 14 May 2026

The 48th ASEAN Summit in early May took place amid prolonged military action in the Middle East and growing risks to global trade. These pressures have exposed ASEAN’s vulnerability to external shocks, but they have also created a rare moment of policy convergence. At the summit, leaders renewed their focus on energy security, food resilience, trade facilitation, maritime cooperation, and crisis coordination. The ASEAN Leaders’ Statement on the Response to the Middle East Crisis provides a clear political anchor for these priorities.

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https://fulcrum.sg/aseanfocus/aseans-collective-resilience-agenda-can-it-deliver-under-pressure/

The article was published by ISEAS.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or view of IRSEA