Terrorism threatens peace in Asia, Duterte says at ASEAN summit

In a ceremony joined by leaders from Asia, the Americas and Oceania, Rodrigo Duterte said issues of maritime piracy, drug trafficking and migration would be discussed at the meetings on Monday and Tuesday morning.

Terrorism and drug trafficking threaten "the prosperity of our economies, the integrity of our institutions, and more importantly the safety of our people," Duterte said.

Between May and October 2017, the Islamic State (IS) militants occupied the city of Marawi, in the southern Philippines, while attracting followers in Indonesia and Malaysia, the two Muslim-majority countries in ASEAN.

The Philippine president added ASEAN will sign an agreement to safeguard the rights of immigrant workers and guarantee their social protection and access to justice.

The ASEAN summit will be held on Monday, with the ASEAN member countries - Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - participating in the meetings.

The bloc will later hold bilateral meetings with the United States, China, South Korea and Japan, among others.

The meetings will culminate on Tuesday with the East Asia Summit, including countries such as Australia, the United States, India and Russia, in addition to the ASEAN countries, and the round of bilateral meetings, including with the European Union, will continue.