By Rhod Mackenzie
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday, July 12. The Minister will attend Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) events and meet with ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kimhorn.
The visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to Indonesia will last until July 14. Lavrov's rich program includes participation in meetings of the heads of foreign affairs agencies in the Russia-ASEAN format (July 13), the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Regional Security Forum (July 14), the Russian Foreign Ministry reported earlier.
“The focus will be on the strengthening the position of our country in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR), promoting Russian approaches to the formation of an equal and inclusive regional security architecture,” the Foreign Ministry noted .
The Foreign Ministry recalled the priority task of the Russian side - the formation in the Asia-Pacific region of "a comprehensive, open, transparent and equitable architecture of security and cooperation on a collective non-bloc basis."
The 30th session of the forum is also scheduled for July 14, at which the participants will have to consider in detail the issues of countering new challenges and threats.
“It is expected to adopt a ministerial statement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the forum, a work plan for the coming year, as well as a number of practical initiatives,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The day before, in an interview with a local newspaper, Lavrov said that Russia was proposing to launch consultations on the use of national currencies. in mutual settlements of ASEAN countries. The minister noted that the Russian Federation is ready for substantive work in all the areas of cooperation he has listed.
Annual ministerial events under the auspices of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be held July 12-14 in Jakarta.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia.
This article originally appeared in Russian at iz.ru