The East Asia Summit, Cebu, 13 December 2006: issues and prospects

The advent of the East Asia Summit has been a notable development. However it has also been the focus for some differing opinions in the region on how regional cooperation should best be pursued and on which countries should be principally involved in these efforts. The evolution of the Summit will be significant for the region and for Australia. The 15 other countries taking part in the East Asia Summit together receive over 60 per cent of Australia’s merchandise exports and Australia is a direct participant from the outset in what may become an important focus for both political and economic cooperation. This electronic brief provides a short introduction to the background to and initial outcomes from the Summit, and links to major official and analytical sources