Putin Kicks off Russia-ASEAN Summit

The two-day summit ‘Russia - Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) opened on May 19th attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin who personally welcomed guests in a ceremony to highlight the 20th anniversary of Moscow’s cooperation with the Association.

The first working session of the summit is scheduled for May 20 and will see the leaders of 10 countries meeting with representatives of the Business Forum followed by a plenary meeting. Among the main topics for discussion will be issues of global and regional agenda, the results of the Russia-ASEAN cooperation over 20 years, and the main directions of further cooperation.

The Business Forum will be held within the summit, attended by, in particular, the Minister of Economic Development, Alexei Ulyukayev, the President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Russian Federation, Sergey Katyrin, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Le Luong Minh, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretary General, Rashid Alimov, as well as businessmen from Russia and countries of the Association.

President Vladimir Putin, in the lead up to the Russia-ASEAN summit, has held a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of countries and members of the Association around a central theme of development of trade and economic cooperation.

Dimitri Dolaberidze