Vietnam attends 17th ASEAN-Russia senior officials’ meeting

The 17th ASEAN – Russia Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) took place virtually on January 26, which was co-chaired by Russia and Indonesia – coordinators of ASEAN – Russia ties.
Vietnam attends 17th ASEAN-Russia senior officials’ meeting ảnh 1Illustrative image (Photo: Getty Images)
Hanoi (VNA) – The 17th ASEAN – Russia SeniorOfficials’ Meeting (SOM) took place virtually on January 26, which wasco-chaired by Russia and Indonesia – coordinators of ASEAN – Russia ties.

Speaking at the event, the Vietnamese delegation affirmedRussia’s important role in ASEAN and regional cooperation and spoke highly ofthe progress of ASEAN – Russia collaboration over the past years.

They encouraged Russia to deeply join and make furtherpositive contributions to ASEAN-led cooperation mechanisms, contributing to thecommon efforts to build trust, uphold international law for an environment ofpeace, security and stability, especially amid challenges at present.

In the immediate future, Vietnam suggested Russia continueassisting the bloc in mitigating the adverse impacts of the pandemic andpropelling sustainable growth.

Stressing that Vietnam fully supports Russia’s wideparticipation in ASEAN and regional cooperation, the Vietnamese delegation affirmedreadiness to work with Russia and ASEAN member states to further deepensubstantive and mutually beneficial coordination between the bloc and Russia,contributing to upgrading bilateral strategic partnership.

At the event, ASEAN and Russia agreed to soon complete theirdraft comprehensive action plan for the 2021-2025 period, thus laying animportant foundation for bilateral ties in the new period, with a focus onpriority fields such as terrorism and trans-national crime fight, trade,digital economy, science and technology, smart city development, energy,disaster management and people-to-people exchange.

They consented to consider establishing dialogue mechanismsto talk about security and information technology security issues.

Amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, theyvowed to work closely together to effectively cope with the pandemic, includingrealising the East Asia Summit Leaders’ Statement on Strengthening CollectiveCapacity in Epidemics Prevention and Response.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov affirmed thatas a strategic partner of ASEAN, Russia is ready to partner with the region infighting the pandemic and mitigating its socio-economic tolls.

He hailed ASEAN’s efforts to sign the Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership, and wished to foster ties between the Eurasian EconomicUnion and ASEAN in the near future, contributing to carrying forwardmultilateral trade and regional connectivity.

On regional and global issues, they highlighted theimportance of maintaining peace, stability, ensuring security and safety in theregion, given that the pandemic still poses risk and threat to socio-economiclives.

They vowed to share vision for the common goal of holding upinternational law, promoting multilateralism and building a rules-basedregional and global order./.
VNA

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