ASEAN-Russia Joint Cooperation Committee Meets in Jakarta
The 13th Meeting of the ASEAN-Russia Joint Cooperation Committee (ARJCC) took place at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on April 29th, 2015 and was co-chaired by Dato' Hasnudin Hamzah, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to ASEAN and Mikhail Galuzin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Indonesia and ASEAN.
ASEAN and Russia reviewed the implementation of the Comprehensive Programme of Action to Promote Cooperation for 2005-2015 (CPA) which will expire at the end of 2015 and discussed the finalization of a new ASEAN-Russia document which would further enhance cooperation for mutual benefit.
The participants also discussed developments in such areas as political security; economy; sociocultural sphere; science and technology; and connectivity emphasizing the importance of economic cooperation. In this context they discussed perspectives for building stronger people-to-people ties between the ASEAN and Russia business communities. In this regard, the Meeting took note of Russia's proposal to hold an ASEAN-Russia Business Summit on the margins of the 27th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur this November.
While reviewing the ASEAN-Russian Federation Dialogue Partnership Financial Fund (ARDPFF), ASEAN and Russia agreed to work together to streamline and simplify the appraisal, approval, financing and reporting of the joint projects funded by the ARDPFF.
Both sides adopted several joint ASEAN-Russia projects such as Promoting of ASEAN-Russia Cooperation in Food Science and Technology; the Russian Language Course for ASEAN Tour Operators; and Energy Dialogue between ASEAN and Russia on Renewable Energy and Clean Energy Technologies.