LANGKAWI, Malaysia (Kyodo) -- Malaysia, this year's ASEAN chair, said Sunday ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House that the regional bloc expects leaders of its partner countries including the United States to pay attention to the important role of the region.

Trump, who will be inaugurated Monday for his second term, showed little interest in multilateralism during his first term and snubbed summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with its partner nations.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan told a gathering of ASEAN foreign ministers on the island of Langkawi on Sunday that their region "has become a site of concentrated superpower competition" because of its "massive potential, highly geo-strategic position and collective economic weight."

"We hope that incoming leaders of our dialog partners nations will take note of the increasingly important part we play and engage with us diplomatically and open mindedly," he added at the meeting.

Other regional issues raised at the annual foreign ministerial forum included the conflict in Myanmar. Since a February 2021 coup ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, thousands of lives have been lost in protests against military rule that morphed into armed resistance.

Myanmar and other ASEAN members reached a peace plan for the country following the coup but have made little progress implementing it.

The Myanmar junta plans to call a general election later this year, but Mohamad told reporters at the end of the Sunday meeting that holding an election is "not a priority" but that a cessation of violence is.

"We said it has to be inclusive and involve all stakeholders," he said about the election plan.

Following the coup, the military detained Suu Kyi and executives of her party, the National League for Democracy. The party was dissolved by the junta-appointed election commission in 2023.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. East Timor participated in the meeting as observer as it awaits confirmation of full membership.