Marcos Maps Out Priorities For Deeper ASEAN-Russia Cooperation

From Nurul Hanis Izmir

KAZAN (Russia), June 18 (Bernama) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday charted a roadmap for the next phase of ASEAN-Russia relations anchored on stronger security, economic and people-to-people ties.

In his opening plenary remarks at the ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit, Marcos, who is the current ASEAN Chair, outlined the priorities for deepening cooperation between ASEAN and Russia.

"In an era of deepening geopolitical uncertainty, the value of steady political and security engagement between ASEAN and Russia cannot be overstated," he said.

Noting that transnational threats such as terrorism, illicit trafficking, cybercrime and online scams do not respect borders, Marcos called for closer collaboration in maritime security and counterterrorism, stronger resilience in cyberspace and greater capacity to anticipate emerging challenges rather than merely react to them.

On the economic front, Marcos said trade and investment ties had yet to realise their full potential.

"We must be more deliberate and ambitious in expanding economic opportunities, improving trade facilitation, deepening investment flows and connecting our business communities," he said.

Stressing that food and energy security deserved particular attention as foundations of broader stability, Marcos said economic cooperation should be more inclusive, with a greater role for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and expanded collaboration in emerging sectors.

Turning to people-to-people ties, Marcos said scholarships, student exchanges, academic partnerships, tourism and the arts were central to ASEAN-Russia relations.

"These are not peripheral to our relationship. They are at its living core," he said.

He stressed that people-to-people connections outlast summit meetings and carry the partnership forward, while calling for youth to be placed at the centre of cooperation as the generation that will shape the future of ASEAN-Russia relations.

Reflecting on the 35-year relationship, he said ASEAN-Russia ties had been built on mutual respect, shared interests and a commitment to peaceful cooperation, noting that Russia's participation in the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur in 1991 laid the foundation for the partnership.

"The principles that guided those early steps, mutual respect, sovereign equality and the commitment to peaceful cooperation enshrined in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, remain as relevant today as they were then," he said.

This marks Marcos’ first visit to Russia, 50 years after his father, then-President Marcos Sr., made his historic trip  to the then-Soviet Union in 1976, which culminated in the establishment of diplomatic relations between Manila and Moscow.

-- BERNAMA