ASEAN chair Philippines invites Putin to East Asia Summit in Manila

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the 21st East Asia Summit in Manila later this year.

Marcos extended the invitation during a bilateral meeting with Putin in the Russian southwestern city of Kazan late Wednesday, according to a statement from the Filipino president's office.

The Philippines' president, as the current chair of the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is in Kazan, where Putin will host the bloc's leaders on Thursday for a commemorative summit as the two sides mark 35 years of ties.

Marcos told Putin that the East Asia Summit "remains an integral part in maintaining a regional architecture towards our shared goal of a stable, secure, and prosperous region."

Ahead of the leaders' summit, Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov told the ASEAN-Russia business forum Wednesday that trade between Russia and the bloc had increased by 58% over the past decade, reaching $21 billion.

On the bilateral front, Marcos sought "more robust trade and economic cooperation" with Russia, underscoring its huge potential for exploration, particularly in energy and food security.

Recalling meetings of the joint commission on trade and economic cooperation between the two nations, Marcos said energy and food security "emerged as a mutual priority of both countries."

Following disruptions to global oil supplies due to the US-Israeli war with Iran, the Philippines, an energy-deficient nation, was the first nation to declare an economic emergency and bought crude from Russia in March, after a US waiver on Russian sanctions.

The two nations mark 50 years of bilateral ties since Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the incumbent's father, paid a historic visit to the then-Soviet Union in 1976, which culminated in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.