JAKARTA, 9 February 2015 – The Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, H.E. Igor V. Morgulov, paid an official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat and met with Secretary-General of ASEAN, H.E. Le Luong Minh, on 6 February 2015.
SG Minh welcomed Deputy Minister Morgulov and expressed appreciation for Russia’s contribution to ASEAN community building, including its annual commitment to the ASEAN-Russia Federation Dialogue Partnership Financial Fund (ARDPFF) which supports numerous activities in all three pillars. Further, SG Minh cited Russia’s participation in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) as well as its contribution in the East Asia Summit (EAS).
For his part, Deputy Minister Morgulov commended the efforts and achievements made in ASEAN Community building, which had brought tangible benefits to the region and beyond. He reassured Russia’s readiness to further support ASEAN’s regional integration beyond 2015. He also expressed Russia’s firm commitment to support ASEAN centrality and stated its strong interest to work with ASEAN, particularly in the areas of human trafficking, trade and investment, connectivity, disaster relief, tourism, among others.
SG Minh and Deputy Minister Morgulov discussed a wide range of issues pertaining to ASEAN-Russia cooperation. Both sides noted that a new Plan of Action (2016-2020) is being developed as the successor of the current Comprehensive Programme of Action (CPA) to Promote Cooperation between ASEAN and Russia which will expire at the end of 2015. They also touched upon the possibility of convening the 3rd ASEAN-Russia Summit and emphasised the importance of having substantive deliverables for the said Summit.