Based on the themes of resilience and innovation, Thailand is preparing to make sustainability more of a priority for Asean as the kingdom prepares to chair the regional bloc next year.
Suriya Chindawongse, director-general of the Department of Asean Affairs, said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will attend the 33rd Asean Summit and related summits in Singapore, the incumbent chair, from Nov 13-15.
At least some Asean members have been focusing on developing smart cities.
"We will emphasise 'smart and sustainable'," Mr Suriya said.
"All the people in smart cities must feel the benefits. If the technologies are not available to all people, there will be more disparities."
While Asean connectivity will be pushed for further development, proper border management is needed to safeguard nations from threats including transnational crimes, he said.
Singapore is holding the last summit of the year. The Asean chairmanship handover ceremony will take place on Nov 15 from 4.30pm-5pm, when the Thai premier will receive the symbolic gavel from Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and deliver a statement before Thailand officially takes over the rotating position on Jan 1, he said.
Attending the events are leaders from a total of 18 countries who are members of the East Asia Summit (EAS), including the 10 Asean nations and Asean dialogue partners with Russia and the US.
Singapore has also invited Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the G7 chair, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera -- as Chile chairs the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) -- and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr Suriya said.
There will be discussions on the direction of the economy and ways to solve the problems of protectionism and moving into a multilateral rule-based system, he said. While Russian President Vladimir Putin will join the events, US Vice President Mike Pence will represent the US.
Other regional and global issues expected to be discussed at the meetings include the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free-trade pact, the situation in Myanmar's Rakhine state and developments in negotiations on the code of conduct for disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Peace on the Korean Peninsula and cooperation within the Indo-Pacific framework are also among the topics on the agenda.
"It has yet to be seen whether this year the talks on the RCEP will substantially conclude or not. If not, they will be continued next year and that is an important mission," Mr Suriya said.
"If not this year, we [Thailand] will do our best so that the RCEP agreement can be reached and documents can be signed by next year, although we know it's not easy."
Deputy government spokesman Werachon Sukondhapatipak said the cabinet on Tuesday approved 25 documents to be endorsed at the summit.
After it wraps up, the premier is due to attend the 26th Apec meeting in Papua New Guinea from the following Friday to Sunday.