The last summit meeting of the European Union of 2022 will be held on Thursday in Brussels, with Russia's war on Ukraine, energy, security and defence, the so-called "southern neighborhood" and foreign affairs all on the agenda. Prior to the summit, the leaders of 27 EU countries will meet with officials from the ASEAN bloc - a regional group of 10 Southeast Asian countries - also in Brussels.

The EU-ASEAN summit will mark the 45th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two blocs. The leaders of nine out of ten members of ASEAN are expected to attend the event, with the sole exception being the military regime of Myanmar, which has not been invited.

Aprt from Myanmar, ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. An EU-ASEAN joint statement which will focus on boosting multilateral ties is expected to be issued after the summit.

The summit meeting will be jointly presided by the European Council President, Charles Michel, and the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, who currently chairs ASEAN.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic will represent Croatia.