Lavrov, Blinken participate in East Asia Summit in Jakarta
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The Russian Foreign Minister and US Secretary of State are seen sitting close to each other while wearing traditional Indonesian shirts.
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Indonesian President Joko Widodo, right, greets U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the courtesy calls of ministers at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, July 14, 2023 (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, Pool)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with other East Asia Summit (EAS) participants, are attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, both wearing traditional Indonesian shirts, a Sputnik correspondent reported Friday.
The organizers chose batik shirts made of hand-dyed fabric with elaborate patterns because Indonesia is the chair of ASEAN and the EAS this year.
According to the correspondent, Lavrov and Blinken are sitting virtually close to each other in the meeting area, to the right and left of the Philippine delegate.
Blinken arrived in Jakarta on Thursday after accompanying US Vice President Joe Biden on his European tour. On Wednesday, Lavrov arrived in Indonesia.
The annual ASEAN ministerial and post-ministerial meetings kicked off in Jakarta on Tuesday.
ASEAN is a grouping of ten Southeast Asian countries, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, to promote political and economic cooperation among its members.
The EAS is a venue for interaction among Asia-Pacific leaders on a wide range of strategic, political, and economic concerns. The next East Asia Summit will be held in September in Jakarta. This kind of meeting is held annually in connection with high-level ASEAN activities. Since 2011, Russian and US presidents have also been invited to the forum.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
