The Russia-ASEAN Business Council, the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic conducted the Russia-ASEAN Business Dialogue, which took place within the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum on September 4, 2024.

The business dialogue was moderated by Daniyar Akkaziev, Executive Director of the Russia-ASEAN Business Council, who in his opening remarks noted that 20 years ago in 2004, Russia joined the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, the so-called Bali Treaty, one of the fundamental regional documents in the Asia-Pacific region.

Member of the Board (Minister) for Industrial and Argo Industrial complex of the Eurasian Economic Commission Gohar Barseghyan said in her speech that the volume of foreign trade of the EAEU member states with the ASEAN member states in 2023 exceeded $ 27 billion and has significant growth potential, since the agreement on a free trade zone with Vietnam is already successfully working, at an active stage negotiations are underway with Indonesia.

"Our trade relations have been developing quite well recently, dynamically. Last year, we increased our trade turnover by 14.5%, to $22 billion. But if you look at the final figure, it is, of course, very modest compared to some other partners of the ASEAN countries," Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said during his speech.

During her speech, the Minister for Hotels and Tourism of Myanmar, Thet Thet Khine, invited Russians to visit the country and get acquainted with a unique direction in the field of tourism. "The key challenge is the creation, harmonization of appropriate regulatory frameworks and simplification of trade procedures between our countries. It is important for us to strive to harmonize our standards," said Thet Thet Khine, Minister for Hotels and Tourism of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Sergey Machekhin, Deputy General Director for Project Engineering, Sustainable Development and International Cooperation of PJSC Rushydro, said in his speech that the company is currently negotiating with Indonesia to support the project of transferring the capital from Jakarta to Nusantara in terms of using electric power and water resources. He added that Indonesia, as a major consumer and producer of aluminum, needs "green" and cheap electricity for the development of the aluminum industry, while the country has a fairly large untapped hydraulic potential.

German Maslov, Vice President of Liner and Logistic Division, FESCO, noted that the logistics company has the ability to send goods from almost any country to Russia and from Russia to these countries through Vietnam, which now operates as a logistics hub. "We have set up a direct line between Vietnam and the port of Vladivostok. We see a huge interest of shippers in this service, because there has never been a direct service before. We collect cargoes from different countries of Southeast Asia, and almost all ASEAN countries have our own representative offices," said the Vice President of FESCO.

"Russia and Vietnam have a long history of relations and partnership, which has been going on for more than 70 years. We are currently negotiating with a number of Russian companies on the implementation of development projects, and we hope that this will contribute to strengthening relations between our countries," said Le Viet Hai, Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hoa Binh Construction Group JSC.

"The Russian Export Center sees quite a lot of interest from Russian exporters in the ASEAN market. In the first seven months of this year, we supported more than 625 companies in 1310 transactions. The total volume of supported foreign trade transactions during this period amounted to more than $626 million," said Dmitry Prokhorenko, Director Development Overseas Network, Russian Export Center.. He added that this year, taking into account the prospects of Russian companies in these markets, the Russian Export Center plans to open its representative offices in Indonesia and Thailand.

Amor Maclang, Co-Founder, Secretary General, International Association of Digital Economies (IDEA); Head, Digital Pilipinas.She expressed hope that by 2030 it will be possible to achieve an integrated economic landscape with the expansion of trade, investment and infrastructure ties between Russia and ASEAN, which will include the successful implementation of joint investment projects.

During the business dialogue, an active discussion took place on key areas of cooperation, as well as proposals to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and ASEAN in the trade, economic, investment and scientific fields.