Русский
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met with the Ambassadors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Moscow on Friday, the Foreign Ministry has stated.
They said that “A substantive conversation took place in the context of this year’s 35th anniversary of Russia-AEAN relations on the subject of advancing the Russia-ASEAN strategic partnership across a whole host of areas, including countering common challenges and threats, trade and investment, highly technological and research-intensive industries, digitization, the energy sector, and broader business and youth contacts. The main emphasis was made on discussing the organization of anniversary events and approval of a new manifesto document for the medium-term.
A substantive exchange of views on pressing issues of the international and regional agendas proved the importance of the Russia-ASEAN dialogue for the formation of a solid architecture of Asia-Pacific regional security and cooperation, based on respect for international law, equal rights and openness. The sides discussed the prospects of interlinking with Eurasian integration processes, increasing ASEAN’s cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union and Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and establishing ASEAN-BRICS contacts.”
ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It has a population of 686 million, a GDP (PPP) of US$13.2 trillion, and GDP growth of about 4.6% in 2025. ASEAN’s total trade with Russia is worth over US$30 billion.
Of the ASEAN members, Indonesia is a full member of BRICS, while Malaysia and Thailand are BRICS partners. Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam have free trade agreements with the Eurasian Economic Union, while Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand are all in the negotiation process. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are partners with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. In turn, Russia is an observer nation to ASEAN and holds annual Russia-ASEAN meetings, usually on the sidelines of the main ASEAN annual meetings that take place each year. Russia-ASEAN trade is rapidly developing, with a target to triple this to US$100 billion in coming years.
