Turkish, Russian foreign ministers discuss bilateral ties, cooperation in energy at ASEAN summit

By Mehmet Sah Yilmaz and Esra Tekin

ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday at the ASEAN Summit in Laos and discussed bilateral relations as well as energy and economic cooperation.

Fidan, who is in Vientiane, Laos’ capital, for the Sixth Trilateral Meeting of the Türkiye-ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partnership, which took place on the margins of the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, met with Lavrov, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

The two ministers also discussed the Russia-Ukraine war, developments in the Gaza Strip, the situation in Syria, and other regional issues.

Fidan is expected to meet with counterparts from Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, and England. He will also meet with the ASEAN general secretary.

Türkiye established institutional relations and signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, one of ASEAN's founding documents, in 2010, before becoming a sectoral dialogue partner in 2017.

In July last year, the foreign minister attended the fifth ASEAN-Türkiye Sectoral Dialogue Partnership Meeting in Indonesia.

Türkiye’s trade volume with ASEAN countries, which was $6.5 billion in 2010, increased over the years to reach $12 billion in 2017, the year when the sectoral dialogue partnership was established.

The trade volume between Türkiye and ASEAN reached $14.8 billion in 2022 and $14.6 billion in 2023.