Russia Ambassador to ASEAN Alexander Ivanov has highlighted the role of Vietnam as the Chair of ASEAN this year following the success of the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings last week, saying it was not easy for the Southeast Asian country to fulfill its chairmanship duties.

Russia Ambassador to ASEAN Alexander Ivanov. (Photo: asean.mid.ru)

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the preparation and organisation of ASEAN’s relevant meetings and events, with some even postponed for the next year. Despite all challenges, Russia continued its fruitful cooperation with ASEAN as a driving force of the Asia-Pacific, Ivanov told the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Jakarta.

The ASEAN-Russia cooperation has made good progress this year in all directions of the bilateral strategic partnership, he said.

The diplomat recalled the ASEAN-Russia Special Ministerial Meeting on COVID-19 on June 17 where the ministers agreed to exchange information and experience, and to work together on vaccine and many other issues. The two sides decided to enhance communication and interaction between ASEAN member states and Russian agencies responsible for prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Russia will also continue its training courses for ASEAN specialists at the International Research Center for the Study of Bio-safety and Human Well-Being in the Asia-Pacific region in Vladivostok in 2021 and 2022, the ambassador noted.

He further said that together with ASEAN partners, Russia has been working on modalities for the consultations of High Representatives for Security Issues and preparing to launch a joint Dialogue on ICT Security. “These new platforms will contribute to close coordination in combating new challenges ASEAN and Russia are facing,” the ambassador stressed.

ASEAN and Russia have also paid huge attention to economic recovery, he continued. This topic was in focus during the ASEAN-Russia Economic Ministers Meeting and the Special Seminar for joint response to the coronavirus outbreak in September.

A number of joint projects under the ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Partnership Financial Fund have been launched in agriculture, smart cities and health. In December, Russia will host an ASEAN-Russia Conference on sustainable and resilient urban technologies, he said.

He unveiled that the two sides are planning to convene an online meeting of the Network of ASEAN-Russia Think Tanks, where their experts discuss the future of the regional architecture in the Asia-Pacific after the pandemic, as well as cooperation in such important areas as disaster management, countering-terrorism and economic recovery.