The US funding will go towards health, climate, economic and education programmes, a White House factsheet said.

Of the total, US$40 million will go to an initiative to help address the current Covid-19 pandemic and strengthen Asean’s ability to prevent, detect and respond to future outbreaks of infectious diseases, it said.

A further US$20.5 million will go to help tackle the climate crisis and up to US$20 million to support cooperation on trade and innovation. Another US$17.5 million is earmarked for education projects and US$4 million to promote gender equality and equity, it said.

Biden’s participation in the virtual summit will mark the first time in four years that Washington will engage at the top level with a bloc that it sees as key to its strategy of pushing back against China.

On Wednesday, Biden will also take part in the broader East Asia Summit, which brings together Asean and other nations in the Indo-Pacific region, a senior official of the US administration said.