diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/external-dataset/aws/s3/non-s3-region/external_dataset.000.ddl.sqlpp b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/external-dataset/aws/s3/non-s3-region/external_dataset.000.ddl.sqlpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b22f11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/external-dataset/aws/s3/non-s3-region/external_dataset.000.ddl.sqlpp
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+/*
+ * Creating an external dataset should not fail when non-s3-region is used (some-new-region)
+ */
+
+drop dataverse test if exists;
+create dataverse test;
+use test;
+
+drop type test if exists;
+create type test as open {
+};
+
+drop dataset test if exists;
+create external dataset test(test) using S3 (
+    ("accessKeyId"="dummyAccessKey"),
+    ("secretAccessKey"="dummySecretKey"),
+    ("region"="some-new-region"),
+    ("serviceEndpoint"="http://localhost:8001"),
+    ("container"="playground"),
+    ("definition"="json-data/reviews/single-line/json"),
+    ("format"="json")
+);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/external-dataset/aws/s3/non-s3-region/external_dataset.099.ddl.sqlpp b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/external-dataset/aws/s3/non-s3-region/external_dataset.099.ddl.sqlpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..548e632
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/queries_sqlpp/external-dataset/aws/s3/non-s3-region/external_dataset.099.ddl.sqlpp
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+drop dataverse test if exists;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite_external_dataset.xml b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite_external_dataset.xml
index 87ba14d..9cded35 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite_external_dataset.xml
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-app/src/test/resources/runtimets/testsuite_external_dataset.xml
@@ -119,6 +119,11 @@
         <expected-warn>The provided external dataset configuration returned no files from the external source</expected-warn>
       </compilation-unit>
     </test-case>
+    <test-case FilePath="external-dataset">
+      <compilation-unit name="aws/s3/non-s3-region">
+        <output-dir compare="Text">aws/s3/non-s3-region</output-dir>
+      </compilation-unit>
+    </test-case>
   </test-group>
   <test-group name="include-exclude">
     <test-case FilePath="external-dataset">
diff --git a/asterixdb/asterix-external-data/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/external/util/ExternalDataUtils.java b/asterixdb/asterix-external-data/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/external/util/ExternalDataUtils.java
index 8206d4c..c0a7a4d 100644
--- a/asterixdb/asterix-external-data/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/external/util/ExternalDataUtils.java
+++ b/asterixdb/asterix-external-data/src/main/java/org/apache/asterix/external/util/ExternalDataUtils.java
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@
 import java.util.EnumMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 
 import org.apache.asterix.common.exceptions.AsterixException;
@@ -628,17 +627,7 @@
             // Credentials
             AwsBasicCredentials credentials = AwsBasicCredentials.create(accessKeyId, secretAccessKey);
             builder.credentialsProvider(StaticCredentialsProvider.create(credentials));
-
-            // Validate the region
-            List<Region> supportedRegions = S3Client.serviceMetadata().regions();
-            Optional<Region> selectedRegion =
-                    supportedRegions.stream().filter(region -> region.id().equalsIgnoreCase(regionId)).findFirst();
-
-            if (!selectedRegion.isPresent()) {
-                throw new CompilationException(ErrorCode.EXTERNAL_SOURCE_ERROR,
-                        String.format("region %s is not supported", regionId));
-            }
-            builder.region(selectedRegion.get());
+            builder.region(Region.of(regionId));
 
             // Validate the service endpoint if present
             if (serviceEndpoint != null) {