JAKARTA, July 13. /TASS/. Moscow will work toward strengthening ASEAN-centric mechanisms jointly with Beijing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
Russia’s top diplomat met with Wang Yi, director of the Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, on the sidelines of ASEAN events underway in Jakarta.
According to Lavrov, synchronizing watches regularly is a must for what he said was a broad and rich agenda of the Russian-Chinese dialogue. He also described today’s meeting as extremely timely. “We support ASEAN’s resolve to keep playing a constructive role in the Asia-Pacific region and ASEAN-centric mechanisms, and we will favor strengthening those jointly with the [People’s] Republic of China,” the Russian minister said, adding that he discussed this stance with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi of Indonesia, this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Lavrov pledged to voice more support for this principled position at coming events in Jakarta, as he referred to the East Asian Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum. “As always, I expect a fruitful dialogue,” he concluded.
