36th ASEAN Summit to be held via video conference on June 26

The 36th ASEAN Summit will be held via video conference on June 26, Vietnam News Agency cited the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As the ASEAN's chair in 2020, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will chair the opening session, plenary session and special sessions on woman empowerment in digital era as well as dialogue between leaders of ASEAN countries and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC), among others, according to the report, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

Preparatory meetings will be held from June 22 to June 24, including informal ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and the 26th ASEAN Coordinating Council which will be under the chair of Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, said the news agency.

Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh will chair the ministerial meeting on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The 36th ASEAN Summit, which had been scheduled to be held in April, has been postponed until the end of June in the context of wide spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in the region and the world.