US to host summit with ASEAN in February in California

Washington: US President Barack Obama will hold talks with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in California on February 15-16, the White House said on Wednesday.

The summit, which will take place at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California, is the first hosted by the US with the ASEAN leaders.

It "builds on the deeper partnership that the US has forged with ASEAN since 2009 and will further advance the Administration's rebalance to Asia and the Pacific," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

The gathering will provide leaders with a forum to strengthen cooperation under the new US-ASEAN strategic partnership on political, security, and economic issues, the spokesman added.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.