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Southeast Asia hosts security gathering amid Middle East turmoil

Reuters · back to the audit

MANILA, July 23 (Reuters) - Top diplomats from Asia, Europe and North America met on Thursday for the security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum, where ministers were expected to call for a peaceful settlement of renewed and intensifying hostilities in the Middle East. Rubio held talks with Lavrov on Thursday for just under an hour, ranging over the Ukraine war and normalisation of U.S.-Russia ties, Russia's foreign ministry said. Lavrov 'reaffirmed Russia's readiness for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict,' it said, and told Rubio that Moscow remained committed to proposals put forward by the leaders of both nations. In a one-paragraph statement, the U.S. State Department said bilateral relations and 'the need to end the Russia-Ukraine war' figured in the discussions.