German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected to arrive in Bali on Monday evening for the summit of the Group of 20 group of major economies after visiting Vietnam and Singapore in a mission to reinvigorate ties with the Indo-Pacific region.

Scholz kicked off his four-day trip to Southeast Asia on Saturday with his focus on “promoting free and open rules-based trade with Asia and strengthening global order and stability”.

“The talks will also focus on global challenges in relation to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine,” the German Embassy in Jakarta wrote in a statement.

This year, Indonesia holds the rotating presidency of the G20, which culminates in a meeting of the world’s most powerful figures on Nov. 15-16 at the Apurva Kempinski in Nusa Dua, Bali. Leaders of the G20 members will exchange views on key issues of global food security, sustainable energy transition, global health architecture and digital transformation in a total of three working groups.

The summit, which brings together the leaders of the top 19 economies and the European Union, is expected to be dominated by the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, which has fueled global shortages of food and energy as well as a cost-of-living crisis.

Prior to his trip to Bali, Scholz had his first stop in Hanoi to meet with Vietnamese government representatives and hold a business roundtable on Sunday.

In Singapore, the chancellor participated in the 17th Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK) taking place on Sunday and Monday.

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