Vietnam attends 20th ASEAN-Russia Senior Officials’ Meeting

Delegates reviewed ASEAN-Russia cooperation and proposed measures to further develop their partnership in the future, alongside examining pressing global and regional issues.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Rudenko, head of the Russian SOM delegation, emphasized that Russia attaches great importance to the strategic partnership with ASEAN.

Russia supports ASEAN’s central role in the regional structure and commits to closely coordinating with the grouping to respond to common challenges in the region.

ASEAN diplomats highly appreciated Russia’s role and asked it to promote more practical and effective cooperation, commensurate with the stature of their relationship.

Both sides agreed increase future cooperation in fields such as security, combating terrorism and transnational crime, illegal drug trafficking, economics, trade, finance, science - technology, digital transformation, information and communication technology security, smart cities, energy, education, people-to-people exchange, youth, tourism, agriculture, and disease prevention.

In the context of increasing tensions, violence and conflicts in many regions of the world, ASEAN diplomats proposed that Russia further engage in dialogue, cooperation and peace building efforts in the region through ASEAN-led mechanisms, while jointly building an open, inclusive, transparent regional structure and upholding international law, actively contributing to peace, security, stability and development in the region.

To mark 20 years of Russia’s accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), Russia plans to hold a number of activities, reaffirming its commitment to peace, stability and cooperation in the region.

In his speech, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet highlighted narrowing the development gap, sub-regional connectivity and development as priorities of ASEAN in its overall effort to build the Community. He expected that Russia, with its potential and strengths, would pay more attention and contribute more effectively to these regional priority efforts in the future.

He also proposed directions and solutions for promoting the bilateral cooperation, including the effective implementation of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) and the Master Plan on ASEAN Community (MPAC) 2025; helping less developed countries and regions tackle common challenges such as combating transnational crime, enhancing health capacity; ensuring food, energy, water security; and effectively embracing new growth drivers, especially digital transformation, green and circular economy.

Viet suggested that Russia support sub-regional development efforts in ASEAN, including the Mekong sub-region, contributing positively to the inclusive growth and equitable and sustainable development of ASEAN and the region.

The Vietnamese official expected that the relationship among major countries, which are important partners of ASEAN, would be stable and healthy, positively contributing to regional cooperation on the basis of respecting and supporting ASEAN’s central role.

He called on Russia to support ASEAN's common stance on the East Sea issue and efforts to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), soon reach an effective and practical Code of Conduct in the waters (COC) in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).