WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Joe Biden will host a summit with leaders from the United States of Southeast Asian countries on March 28-29 in Washington. The White House made this announcement Monday.

While the White House summit is part of U.S. efforts for increased engagement with a region Washington regards as crucial to its efforts against China’s rising power was expected earlier in this year, scheduling problems caused by COVID-19 delays.

Jen Psaki (White House press secretary) stated that 45 years of U.S.–ASEAN relations will be commemorated at the ASEAN summit.

In announcing this summit, she stated that it was a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration “to serve as a solid, reliable partner and strengthen an empowered ASEAN to face the challenges of the time.”

Anthony Blinken, U.S. Secretary Of State, visited Malaysia in December and stated that the ASEAN 10-member bloc is “essential” to the Indo-Pacific architecture.

The summit will discuss issues including pandemic recovery, climate, and investment.

The Biden administration declared China and the Indo-Pacific its main foreign policy focus despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden met with ASEAN leaders for a virtual summit last October. It was the first time Washington had sat down at the highest level of the group in over four years.

He promised to support ASEAN’s defense of democracy and freedom of the oceans, and that Washington would begin talks about developing a regional economic framework. This is something critics claim U.S. Asia strategy lacks since Donald Trump left a regional trade agreement.

Biden’s administration published a 12 page strategy for Indo-Pacific, which was announced in February. In it, they pledged to increase diplomatic and security support to the region in order to stop what they see as China’s attempts to build a sphere and influence there and to become the largest and most powerful country in the world.

While the U.S. reiterated its plans to establish a regional economy framework by early 2022 in the document, very few details were provided. Additionally, the Biden administration refused to give the more market access Asian nations desire. They saw this as an attack on American jobs.