Marcos Jr. to attend Asean-Russia summit in Kazan

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos is set to visit Russia next week to attend the ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit, an event that coincides with the Philippines’ chairmanship of the regional bloc.

The working visit to Kazan City from June 17 to 18 will be Marcos’ 43rd overseas trip since assuming the presidency in 2022.

Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the summit would commemorate the 35th anniversary of ties between ASEAN and Russia.

“Russia is an ASEAN dialogue partner and since the Philippines is the ASEAN chair, we will lead the assessment of our cooperation and relations with Russia,” Castro said at a press briefing yesterday.

“This includes the discussions on the next steps to further deepen and expand the ties among the Philippines, Russia and ASEAN,” she added.

In a statement commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Philippines and Russia, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov expressed confidence that the cooperation between the two countries would expand and deepen.

He said the Russian government is looking forward to welcoming in Kazan the heads of all ASEAN member states, especially President Marcos.

“The forthcoming summit will allow us to consolidate the achievements of three and a half decades of cooperation between Russia and the ASEAN and outline an agenda for future mutually beneficial cooperation in such areas as trade, investments, energy, agriculture, digitalization, science, technology and innovation, education, tourism, cultural and humanitarian ties,” Lavrov added.

According to Lavrov, Russia has a stake in further deepening strategic partnership with ASEAN, including in the interest of building architecture of equal and indivisible security and broad cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and across their shared Eurasian continent.

Before his trip to Russia, Marcos is expected to receive German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who is scheduled to visit the Philippines on Monday until June 17.

In a statement, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Steinmeier’s visit marks a “key moment” in the over seven-decade long diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Germany.

“The two leaders will discuss issues of mutual interest, including defense, peacebuilding, maritime cooperation, trade and investment, climate change, renewable energy and people-to-people exchanges,” the PCO said.

“They will also exchange views on regional and international matters of mutual interest, including the Philippines’ ongoing chairship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).”

The last visit by a German head of state was undertaken by German President Heinrich Lübke in 1963. Marcos embarked on a working visit to Berlin on March 12-13, 2024, where he met with then-German chancellor Olaf Scholz. The visit was among the activities that commemorated the 70th anniversary of Philippines-Germany diplomatic ties established on Oct. 8, 1954.

Germany is the biggest trading and investment partner of the Philippines in the European Union and has been a development partner of ASEAN since 2016.

Among the German firms that have presence in the Philippines are Siemens, Lufthansa Technik, Deutsche Bank, Bayer and Bosch.