President Putin is hosting a large-scale foreign policy event in the Russian city of Sochi.
The heads of ten Southeast Asian states, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN are gathering for a two-day Summit to discuss further partnerships and to seek ways to boost their cooperation to a “fundamentally new strategic level.”
It is the third high-level meeting between Russia and ASEAN and the first to be held on its territory. The first one was help in December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and the second – in October 2010 in Hanoi (Vietnam).
2016 marks 20 years since the launch of the ASEAN — Russia Dialogue Partnership and the Sochi Summit will review the progress that has so far been achieved.
Dialogue ASEAN — Russia was launched in July 1991 when Russian representatives where invited by the Malaysian Government to attend an ASEAN Ministerial Meeting.
Russia was subsequently elevated to a full Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in July 1996 at the 29th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Why ASEAN and Asia-Pacific Region are of a Particular Interest to Russia
“ASEAN and Asia-Pacific Region are of a particular interest to Russia due to its rapid economic growth, deepening integration and modernization,” Victor Sumsky, Director of the ASEAN Centre in Russia’s MGIMO University, told Radio Sputnik.
“However another one of the most important characteristics is the political stability of each of its member states and of the region as a whole,” he added.
Sumsky though noted that despite of it being a relatively stable zone compared to the Middle East, Eastern Europe or North Africa, the region also faces quite a number of threats and challenges.
Among those is international terrorism, which has its effect on the region, proliferation of armaments, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, some unsettled territorial disputes and the tensions between the US and China.
However the regional countries are interested in taking steps to make the positive achievements overweigh the negative.
Industrial and Regional Diversification and Re-orientation of Trade Flows — Russia's Top Priorities
Regional experts note that in the relationship between Russia and the ASEAN countries, politics is far ahead of the economy, meaning that one of the top priorities of the summit is to bridge this gap.
Chief economist with the Eurasian Development Bank Yaroslav Lissovolik told Radio Sputnik that while previously the highest priority was given to trade relations between Russia and the countries of the region, it is now giving way to investment cooperation.
“Asia-Pacific markets have a surplus of free funds ready to be invested. The cooperation with ASEAN for Russia – is an entry to the fast growing region and a potential way of cooperation within Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which includes the ASEAN member states,” he said.
Lissovolik mentioned that it also sets preconditions for the industrial and regional diversification and re-orientation of trade flows.
All the above holds a huge potential, which has not even started to be implemented.
However a creation of a favorable investment climate is a long-term and painstaking job. Any investor has to be sure that the cooperation will be both lucrative and stable.
Russia's Far East — Moscow's Trump Card
Representative of the Ministry for Development of the Russian Far East, Rustam Makarov, told Radio Sputnik that to be able to efficiently attract investments, one needs to properly introduce oneself.
“We cooperate with investors and in many cases, with the political leadership of different countries, trying to convince them that it is profitable and safe to do business in the Far East,” he said.
Many projects in the Far East, he added, are much more efficient that in any other Russian region or even in the ASAN member states themselves.
For this purpose, amongst other initiatives, they developed the Territories of Advanced Development (ADT), a “Free Port of Vladivostok” within the area of the Pacific city of Vladivostok and a few neighboring towns and infrastructural support of investment projects.
Economists know that there are country risks, which investors take into consideration upon making a decision to invest in this or that country.
Russia’s Far East has a zero country risk, Makarov stressed.
The ASEAN countries are: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Papua New Guinea holds a status of observer.
The Summit will be held on May 19-20.
