The possibility that the war in Ukraine could spread to Europe’s eastern flank, potentially sparking a new phase of the conflict, will overshadow the agenda at this week’s APEC Summit in Bangkok. .
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BANGKOK — The war in Ukraine could spread to Europe’s eastern flank, potentially sparking a new phase of conflict that will overshadow the agenda at this week’s APEC Summit in Bangkok. .
The latest developments in Europe are likely to overshadow the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum as business leaders, heads of state and diplomats try to find a way out of the conflict. conflict in Ukraine. The war led to stubbornly high global inflation, challenging policymakers and triggering a severe cost of living crisis.
The summit, a traditional forum towards investment agreements and trade liberalization, follows the ASEAN meetings in Phnom Penh and the Group of 20 in Bali. This may be the last chance in a recent series of diplomatic efforts in the region to try to find consensus among world leaders to secure the path to peace negotiations between the countries. warring party.
Kasemsit Pathosak, Executive Director of the APEC CEO Summit summed up the results business leaders want to see: “How do we help bring all parties to the conflict here to the negotiating table and We need to get to that point as soon as we can.”
“People in every APEC economy are grappling with global economic challenges that have been exacerbated by the war in Russia,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Thursday.
“Taking those consequences together was a key focus of our meetings in Bangkok. Thailand has shown exceptional leadership in navigating APEC through challenging times,” he said. .
Expectations of any diplomatic breakthrough are low. Key stakeholders such as US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will not attend, although Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend.
In addition, the APEC ministerial meetings ahead of the November summit failed to produce a joint statement or joint communiqué stating their position on Ukraine. Russia itself is a member of the 21-economy bloc as well as its allies China and India.
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai remains optimistic. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, he called the upcoming ASEAN, G-20 and APEC summits the venue for a kind of slide diplomacy and a “golden opportunity for all.” both major stakeholders in the Ukraine crisis.”
The high-level meetings could act as a “possible shortcut or way out to this highly tense global crisis in Ukraine.”
APEC is shaping up to be the basis for a final diplomatic push with all of the bloc’s attention to see if the bloc can come up with a joint statement close to a unified position on Ukraine.
