We perceive the Asia-Pacific region as a top-priority area, First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov, who is heading the Russian delegation, said.
Russia now implements a multi-vector foreign policy, thus perceiving the Asia-Pacific region as quite important, Trubnikov added.
Conference organizers issued a press release noting this conference was the only multilateral Asia-Pacific forum to involve Defense Ministers and senior officials of security and defense bodies for the sake of discussing defense-related issues and regional cooperation in this sphere.
This conference, which is organized by Singapore's international institute of strategic research, is also referred to as Shangri-La Dialogue after the local Shangri-La hotel, which will host the conference.
The forum is to involve 20 Asia-Pacific Defense Ministers; U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was invited to attend this conference, as well.
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore will open the conference in the evening of June 4.
Conference delegates are to discuss missile defense issues for the Asia-Pacific region, the use of new security-related technologies, as well as regional cooperation in the security field.
The forum would also be expected to discuss a US proposal on helping regional countries patrol the Malacca strait, which is the world's busiest sea lane. Singapore supports this idea, which has been emphatically opposed by Indonesia and Malaysia on many occasions.
Analysts believe the Asia-Pacific region will have tremendous significance for the global civilization in the 21st century; as a matter of fact, its significance can be compared to that of the Mediterranean Sea in ancient times.
