Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have not distracted the European Union from South-East Asia, EU foreign ministers are to tell their counterparts from the region on Friday.
"The region can count on us as a reliable partner," top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said in a written statement earlier this week.
The meeting in Brussels of foreign ministers from the EU and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will review progress towards an EU commitment made last year to invest €10 billion ($10.9 billion) in connectivity projects in South-East Asian countries.
Also on the agenda are trade, climate change and security matters.
Borrell acknowledged that while the EU remains "deeply concerned" about the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, ASEAN countries face major security concerns too.
"Major tensions are rising, from the South China Sea, to the Taiwan Strait, the Korean peninsula and the Red Sea," Borrell wrote. "We are at risk of going back to a world where 'might makes right'.”
"We are not forgetting the broader picture: the centre of gravity of the world’s economy has shifted to the Indo-Pacific region," Borrell said.