PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. is sending Peace and Unity Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr to a peace summit that aims to pave the way for peace in Ukraine, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said yesterday.
The June 15-16 summit to be hosted by Switzerland will be participated in by some 90 states and organizations, the Swiss government said on Monday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, earlier this month, visited Manila to personally invite the President to attend the summit and thanked Marcos for the Philippines’ participation.
A Palace official said Marcos is sending Galvez to represent him as the invitation to the President had come late, and Marcos has a full schedule during the summit dates.
Switzerland has said roughly half the countries taking part will be represented by heads of state or government.
It said also said roughly half of the 90 states and organizations that have registered to take part in the talks to be held at a resort near the central city of Lucerne are from South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Switzerland.
Ukraine is in conflict with Russia which attacked it in February 2022, after invading the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea in 2014.
Zelenskyy said if Ukraine completely falls and Russia succeeds in occupying their territory, the war could extend to other continents, including Asia where the Philippines is.
Russia, which has dismissed the summit as a waste of time, has not been invited to the talks that the Swiss government said aimed to “jointly define a roadmap” on how to involve both it and Ukraine in a future peace process.
The summit at the Buergenstock resort is due to discuss areas of international concern, such as the need for nuclear and food security, freedom of navigation as well as humanitarian issues, such as prisoners of war exchanges. — With Reuters
