ASEAN ambassadors express ‘deep concern’ over Iran’s war and energy crisis | History of ASEAN

Southeast Asian countries are particularly affected by the shortage of oil caused by the war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Southeast Asian countries are “deeply concerned” by the closure of key maritime trade routes to the Middle East, their top diplomats have said.

Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their important partners met in the Philippines on Tuesday against the international instability due to the global impact on trade and energy caused by the US-Israeli war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as well as international disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Southeast Asian countries it has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.8 trillion but is at low risk due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as it is highly dependent on the Gulf countries for oil.

At the ongoing ASEAN meeting in Manila, the leaders of the countries and the top diplomats from the region want to agree on a way to share oil in order to reduce the consequences of the war in Iran.

The Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia On Monday, I opened a new way of fighting and risking the threat of global energy and trade through the Gulf.

“We are deeply concerned that these developments are seriously hampering the efforts of mediators and reducing the chances of finding a peaceful solution through dialogue and negotiation,” the ASEAN ministers said in a statement.

High-ranking diplomats from the United States, Russia and China are also attending the ASEAN summit, another reminder of how the Iran conflict is reshaping international dialogue and international power.

Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo reports from Manila that the war has pushed up oil and gas prices in Southeast Asia and hampered production and exports, prompting countries in the region to find new trading partners.

“Southeast Asia is thousands of kilometers away from the Middle East, but it is one of the areas most affected by the war because of how many of its member countries depend on oil from the Middle East,” said Lo.

“For example, take the Philippines: it is the first country in the world to declare a state of emergency, and it is still in this government, so it is dealing with problems on two fronts. One is supply, the other is rising fuel prices,” said Lo. “In terms of availability, they will get oil from non-traditional sources, such as Russia and China, but in the case of rising prices they have little to do because the prices here are controlled by the market.”

Other issues that need to be discussed at the ASEAN meeting include: civil war in Myanmarwhile the organization’s peace efforts are failing, five years after the military coup in this country that has killed nearly 100,000 people.

“Ahead of the summit, ASEAN foreign ministers held a one-on-one meeting – the first since 2021 – with the foreign minister of the military-backed government of Myanmar in Bangkok,” Lo said. “This was criticized for allowing the military to enter Myanmar.”

The top diplomats are also expected to discuss disputes in the South China Sea, as ASEAN countries and China are still trying to finalize a nearly 10-year-old anti-conflict agreement. Prior to the meeting, China and the Philippines had clashed after fighting between their ships in disputed waters left a Filipino sailor injured.

The US State Department condemned what it described as “dangerous and aggressive” actions by China, as well as its “troublesome way of provoking legitimate maritime activities in the Philippines”.