KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13: President Vladimir Putin pushed his effort to increase Russia’s influence in Asia on Tuesday by signing agreements with Southeast Asia on the eve of a regional summit.

The pacts with the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) were aimed at strengthening Russia’s ties with the regional grouping over the next 10 years, officials said.

“These documents will be used as a guideline to steer ahead our cooperation on the various projects we have identified,” Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the current Asean chairman, told reporters.

Putin, attending the first East Asia summit on Wednesday as an observer, is expected to address the gathering, which could sow the seeds of a pan-Asian trade bloc.

Asked if he would come back for the second summit next year, Putin said after signing the pact: “We’ll see. I don’t know. I’ll try to.”

The Kuala Lumpur summit includes Asean, Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, but not the United States.

Moscow is looking increasingly to Asia, both for security and as an opportunity for investment, delegates said, with Russia’s rich oil and gas resources at the forefront of trade talks.

The first document was a joint declaration by Asean and Russia on a ‘progressive and comprehensive partnership’ and the second will promote cooperation between the two sides until 2015.

“They will have political and economic significance,” a Russian official said without giving further details.—Reuters