Integration, energy, innovations to be discussed at Russia-ASEAN summit - expert

MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Regional integration, energy cooperation, innovation and information technology interaction will be discussed at the summit of Russia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Sochi, Grigory Lokshin, the leading research fellow of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Far Eastern Studies’ Vietnam and ASEAN Study Center, told TASS in an interview. Lokshin, who is also a deputy chairman of the Russian-Vietnamese Friendship Association, was speaking shortly before the Russia-ASEAN summit that will be held in the southern Russian resort of Sochi on May 19-20. "On the issue of integration, an extensive discussion is expected in the region," he said. "President Vladimir Putin spoke in December last year in his annual address to the Russian Federal Assembly with an initiative on broader interaction. It was he who raised the issue of forming a common economic space between countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and ASEAN." "While the details of this project were discussed with interested countries, they remained unknown to the wide public. The summit in Sochi will apparently bring more clarity to this long-term project," Lokshin said. He did not rule out discussion of joint participation of Russia and ASEAN countries in the Chinese project of the Silk Road. "We are all participants of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank," Lokshin said. "It is expected that its first loans will soon be used to create ramified systems of gas pipelines and power grids in the region." "If this is realized, the regional states’ economic interdependence will deepen in such a way that will rule out the possibility of military conflicts, and in the future will be capable of making the achievement of a solution to many disputable problems acceptable to all easier," the expert said. "If we manage to enter that system, it will be advantageous for us, ASEAN and the People’s Republic of China." He said the summit will also become a site for discussion of issues connected with conclusion of free trade agreements with some of the Association’s members. "Among them, Singapore and Laos are mentioned the most frequently," he said. The summit of Russia and the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be held in Sochi on May 19-20 and will become the biggest international event in Russia in 2016. ASEAN comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar with a total population of over 600 million people. The Association aims to develop cooperation in the economic, social, cultural and other spheres, and also strengthen peace and stability in Southeast Asia. Russia has been a dialog partner of ASEAN since July 1996. In December 2005, the first Russia-ASEAN summit was held in Kuala Lumpur. The summit participants signed a declaration on cooperation and approved an action plan - in effect a roadmap of Russia-ASEAN interaction. Similar partnership summits are normally held on the territory of member-states and the choice of Sochi as venue for the Russia-ASEAN summit on the partnership’s 20th anniversary is symbolic. The summit will be held under the slogan "Towards Strategic Partnership for the Sake of the Common Good." The summit is expected to adopt a declaration that will lay the basis for an action plan of Russia-ASEAN cooperation in the political, economic and cultural spheres, as well as in the sphere of security. The gross domestic product of ASEAN member-states stands at about $3.5 trillion today and is expected to reach $4 trillion by 2020. ASEAN is becoming an increasingly attractive area for foreign investments, which grew by 16% in 2014 to over $136 billion. Read more