Russian Foreign Ministry: The scale of unprincipled US and like-minded people amazes

"Last year, clarifications were made to the Roadmap for Trade and Investment Cooperation between Russia and ASEAN and to the program for its implementation for 2021-2025. Could you name the priority projects of this program?, " - asked the journalist of The Moscow Post.

Answering the first question, Ivan Nechaev, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that deepening economic cooperation is one of the priorities of the Russian-ASEAN dialogue partnership, the importance of which has increased even more amid unprecedented sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation.

The roadmap for trade and investment cooperation between the parties for 2021-25 and the working program for its implementation are extremely important tools. The documents updated at the next consultations pay increased attention to the issues of sustainable development, climate change, intellectual property, and active work is also being carried out in science-intensive areas within the framework of the current program of the year of scientific and technical cooperation between the parties.

In addition, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry added that the issues of ensuring food and energy security, etc., came to the forefront.

Russia came up with the idea to launch cooperation through statistical departments.

Joint projects were implemented in the areas of supporting small and medium-sized businesses, circular economy, agriculture, health care and innovative technology implementations.

And initiatives are being worked out on biotechnology, the development of smart cities and remote areas, improving the digital literacy of the labor force, and promoting domestic animation technologies in the ASEAN market.

The second issue also touched on the topic of interaction with ASEAN. He sounded as follows: "We have untapped potential in trade," said Russia's Permanent Representative to ASEAN A.A. Ivanov in an interview with TASS a year ago. Russia and ASEAN plan to adopt an updated plan to combat terrorism in 2022. And he added: "We operate in the format of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Russia cannot act separately from other EAEU countries here." Could you comment on this, especially in the light of the recent UN vote on Russian "reparations" to Ukraine, including the position of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan? Armenia, which presides over the CSTO, also abstained from voting. How can this be explained? "

The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that ASEAN is interested in expanding ties with the Eurasian Economic Union. He added that a good basis for this is the memorandum of understanding signed several years ago in the field of economic cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Commission and ASEAN, as well as the corresponding cooperation program until 2025.

Sanctions pressure from the West was also mentioned.

"Despite geopolitical turbulence, aggressive pressure and threats of secondary sanctions from the West, contacts between the EAEU and ASEAN remain positive," the representative of the department said.

In particular, at the moment we are talking about the beginning of negotiations on a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Indonesia.

He added that the dialogue at the EAEU site is exclusively economic in nature, and the political subjects of the five countries are not discussed.

And he stressed that the member countries of the union adhere to a similar approach in the context of building relations with ASEAN.

"Moving on to the answer to your question, I will say that it clearly illustrates the fundamental difference in the approaches of Russia and the collective West, led by the United States, to building interactions with partners and to international relations in general," he added.

The representative of the department said that the United States and its allies, "who have long lost the ability to introduce professional dialogue and achieve compromises," are used to achieving goals with brute force, and the scale of the unscrupulous Washington and like-minded people is striking.

"So, developing states that do not want to break mutually beneficial ties with Russia are literally twisting their hands to persuade them to support odious anti-Russian initiatives," Nechaev stressed.

He added: for the Russian side, a firm belief in the equality of all countries and the enduring importance of true diplomacy does not allow the Russian Federation to descend to dictate its will to someone with the help of naked pressure. The Russian Federation remains strictly committed to the fundamental international legal norms that are laid down in the UN Charter, one of the main principles of which is the sovereign equality of countries.

The representative of the Foreign Ministry explained that any state, regardless of size, resources and influence, has the right to independently determine its national interests, and accordingly develop its foreign policy line.

"You mentioned a number of our colleagues in the EAEU, the CSTO and the CIS in the context of the legally null and void resolution adopted on November 14 11 the extraordinary special session of the General Assembly on" reparations "in favor of Ukraine... Yes, they really did not vote against it, but they did not support this politicized undertaking either. Together with them, 94 more countries did the same, "he said.

More than half of the UN member states showed unwillingness to solidify themselves "with this Russophobic document," that is, the collective West was not eager for such a result, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry added.