JAKARTA, June 28 (RIA Novosti) - Senior officials of the ASEAN foreign ministries after their Monday session in Jakarta recommended the participants of the forthcoming conference of the ASEAN foreign ministers to arrange the first Russia-ASEAN summit, RIA Novosti learned from Marti Natalegawa, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry's spokesman and general director for ASEAN cooperation.
"So far it is a recommendation and the final decision is up to the conference of foreign ministers that begins tomorrow," he said.
"Yet the very decision of senior officials is symbolic proving the new level of our cooperation," he added.
"It is easy to imagine how much effort it will take to gather ten heads of state and government for a summit with the Russian leader. This testifies to the importance we attach to relations with Russia," Natalegawa pointed out.
According to him, if the idea wins the ministers' approval, the first Russia-ASEAN summit can take place within the framework of the annual ASEAN summit in 2005.
