The endless horizon of ramshackle refugee shelters lining the hills of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, is a world away from the views across Sydney harbour that will greet Aung San Suu Kyi when she flies into Sydney next week for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.

Yet the plight of the one million Rohingya refugees that reside there must be front and centre on the ASEAN agenda when the Australian government hosts one of the first visits of Suu Kyi outside of Myanmar since the Rohingya crisis began.

The leadership of Suu Kyi, who heads the civilian government in Myanmar, has been under intense scrutiny since the violence in August 2017 – condemned by the United Nations as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" – led to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing for their lives.

Her critics may argue that Australia should not host her visit, given her failure to condemn the violence against the Rohingya. But Australia is right to extend the invitation. The ASEAN summit presents a key opportunity for leaders in our region to engage with Myanmar’s leader in finding a durable solution to this crisis. And, as host, Australia also has a special responsibility to show leadership.

For Malcolm Turnbull, it’s an opportunity to live up to the rhetoric in his government's Foreign Policy White Paper, released in November, which states Australia's aim is to "keep our Indo-Pacific region secure, open and prosperous’ and "promote a world with fair rules and strong co-operation". Indeed, the summit could be a coming of age moment for the leadership of Suu Kyi, Turnbull and ASEAN itself.