Southeast Asian leaders gathered in the Philippines this weekend to coordinate a joint response to the fallout from the war on Iran, which has driven up energy prices across a region that imports most of its oil and gas. Al Jazeera reports the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is set to issue a joint statement calling for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and better crisis communication and coordination.

Speaking at the opening of the gathering on Friday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the United States-Israeli war on Iran had been felt “through higher living costs” and had “threatened livelihoods” both at home and among Southeast Asian nationals in the Middle East. He urged the bloc, whose members represent more than 700 million people, to “strengthen coordination” and “pursue practical collective measures to safeguard a stable energy supply and improve interconnectivity”.

The joint statement is also expected to focus on energy and food security, according to a leaked draft seen by several media outlets, including the Associated Press and Channel News Asia. The Edge, citing a working draft seen by Reuters, reported that the leaders would call for good-faith negotiations between the United States and Iran, a halt in hostilities, and for international law to be upheld.

The Philippines has been pushing ASEAN members to sign a voluntary energy-sharing agreement to shoulder supply disruptions, and to press ahead with an ASEAN power grid to integrate the region's electricity networks by 2045. Manila declared a national emergency in March amid energy shortages linked to the war, while Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia have imposed energy-saving measures including price caps and work-from-home schemes. Petrochemical companies in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore have declared force majeure on contracts hit by the disruption.

Tan Hsien-Li, an ASEAN expert at the National University of Singapore's law school, told Al Jazeera she expects the bloc to push for more economic cooperation and “more substantive outcomes” than is typical of ASEAN summits, including decisive action on the power grid and the ASEAN Digital Economic Framework Agreement still under negotiation. The joint statement is also likely to stress international law, national sovereignty and freedom of navigation, as many ASEAN members share concerns about China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The summit follows an October ASEAN meeting in Malaysia at which Cambodia and Thailand signed a peace deal after deadly border clashes, in a ceremony presided over by US President Donald Trump. Ahead of this gathering, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet pledged on Thursday to continue dialogue and allow an observer team access to their border, though no resolution of the decades-old dispute was announced.