Russia signs economic accord with Southeast Asian bloc (AP) Updated: 2005-12-10 15:38
Russia signed an economic cooperation accord with Southeast Asia on Saturday
as Moscow seeks greater engagement with a region that launches a new economic
and security club in the coming week.
The agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is the first of
a series of documents Moscow will sign with the region in coming days. Russian
officials have said those documents would help open a "new era" of cooperation
between the two sides.
Russia wants to boost its ties with 10-member ASEAN, seeing it as a doorway
to enter the East Asia Summit, which will be launched on Wednesday in Kuala
Lumpur.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed Saturday's agreement, which is
expected to bolster the still-low levels of trade between the two sides. ASEAN's
trade with Russia accounted for only 0.4 percent of the region's global trade in
2004.
"We're very satisfied with the ministerial meeting," Lavrov said after inking
the accord with his counterparts. "This economic declaration would form the
basis for the comprehensive program of cooperation between Russia and ASEAN for
the years 2005 through the year 2015."
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said he welcomes Russia's
intention to play a bigger role in Southeast Asia.
"The potentials are there and we can move forward in order to create a more
substantial relationship between Russia and ASEAN," Syed said.
Russia's ties with the region so far have focused on political and security
cooperation, but it's time to expand the relations to all areas, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold the country's first-ever summit
with ASEAN on Tuesday.
A copy of their joint declaration, obtained by The Associated Press, says the
two sides are committed to "broadening mutually beneficial dialogue relations in
all spheres and at all levels," to strengthen ties in all sectors and to
regularize the summit.
Russia is not a member of the inaugural 16-country East Asia Summit to be
held on Wednesday, but Putin will watch from the sidelines and will also be
given an opportunity to address the group's members _ in recognition that
Russia's membership application is being considered seriously.
|