Off the wire
• China hands over medical equipments to Nepal's healthcare center  • Portugal's transport authority says Uber service illegal  • U.S. to use Bulgarian military bases for another 10 years: defense official  • SMEs major drivers of new pharmaceutical developments: EMA report  • 1st Ld-Writethru: China, Morocco establish strategic partnership  • 1st LD: 13 killed in 2 car bomb attacks in Iraq's Baghdad  • Germany to expand truck toll to all federal highways  • Liverpool's "Mr Chinatown" made citizen of honor in his adopted city  • UN commission of inquiry on Syria condemns unlawful attacks  • Audi reports substantial growth rate in China in April  
You are here: 　 Home

Russia willing to build strategic partnership with ASEAN: Putin

Xinhua, May 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the upcoming summit between Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) could help establish a strategic partnership between the two sides.

Over the past two decades, Russia and ASEAN have obtained huge experiences in fruitful political, economic and humanitarian cooperation, which provided a good basis for raising the relations to a new level of strategic partnership, Putin said.

The summit, to be held in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi on May 19-20, marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue partnership between Russia and the regional organization.

"This cooperation has become an important factor of stability and economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region," Putin said.

According to the Russian leader, the summit agenda includes a broad range of issues related to improving regional security and the fight against growing threats of international terrorism, militant extremism and transnational crime.

Meanwhile, the ASEAN-Russia Business Forum would focus on effective measures to expand cooperation in energy, transportation and infrastructure, agriculture, science and technology.

Putin also expressed the hope that the summit would consider the possibility of "establishing versatile contacts" between ASEAN and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.

The dialogue between ASEAN and Russia started in 1991, when Russian representatives were invited to attend a ministerial meeting of the regional organization.

Russia was subsequently elevated to a full dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1996. The first ASEAN-Russia summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2005 and the second one in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2010. Endi