Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Prak Sokhonn, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation attended on July 6 via Videoconference the Special ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Partnership.
The following is the outcomes of the Special ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting released this evening by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation:
"On 6 July 2021, His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister PRAK Sokhonn, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia, attended the Special ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Partnership, via Videoconference. The Meeting was co-chaired by H.E. Retno Marsudi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, as Country Coordinator for ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Relations, and H.E. Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
The Meeting served as an opportunity to review the achievements of ASEAN-Russia dialogue relations over the last 25 years and to follow-up on the ASEAN-Russia Special Meeting on COVID-19 held last year. The Ministers discussed matters relating to regional architecture and reiterated their shared views on the importance of further broadening ASEAN-Russia relations on issues of common concern and interest, in particular cooperation to address economic recovery.
On cooperation to fight against the COVID-19, the ASEAN Ministers encouraged Russia to support regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular efforts to uphold vaccine multilateralism and equitable vaccination. ASEAN emphasised the need to promote practical cooperation in order to address comprehensive post-pandemic recovery, including by reinforcing trade and investment, supporting tourism recovery, reopening connectivity and people exchanges, and enhancing cooperation in pandemic preparedness and response, among others.
The Meeting also highlighted the importance of ASEAN Centrality and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening an ASEAN-centric regional architecture that is open, transparent, inclusive and rules-based. The Ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation within the framework of existing ASEAN-led mechanisms, in particular the East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meetings-Plus (ADMM-Plus). They expressed strong determination to further promote cooperation through effective implementation of the Plan of Action 2021-2025 and looked forward to the 4th ASEAN-Russia Summit in October 2021 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Relations.
At this meeting, H.E. Deputy Prime Minister PRAK Sokhonn underlined the long-standing friendship between ASEAN and Russia and Russia’s strong support for ASEAN Centrality as reflected by Russia’s active participation in ASEAN-led mechanisms. He stressed the importance of promoting vaccines as global public goods and of Russia’s engagement, particularly in supporting the implementation of the five broad strategies of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework (ACRF), aiming at expediting post-pandemic recovery and resilience. In this connection, he encouraged Russia to increase high-level engagement and constructive dialogue in the ASEAN frameworks aimed at promoting peace, security, stability and mutual benefits. He also shared with the Meeting Cambodia’s soon-to-belaunchedPost-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan 2021-2023 and welcomed Russia’s designation of the year 2022-2023 as the “ASEAN-Russia Year of Science, Technology and Industrial Cooperation”.
The Meeting welcomed the conclusion of the negotiation on the Comprehensive Plan of Action to Implement ASEAN-Russia Strategic Partnership (2021-2025) that lays out priorities and measures to strengthen the ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Partnership. The Foreign Ministers of ASEAN and Russia will meet again at the next ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in August this year, after which Cambodia will take over from Indonesia the role of country coordinator for ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Relations for the next three years(August 2021 to August 2024)."
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press