18 February 2021
February 18th, in a hybrid format, the 18th meeting of the Executive Council of the ASEAN Centre unfolded with the Ambassador of Brunei to Russia Haini Hashim (co-chairman of the council on the ASEAN side), the Ambassador of Indonesia to Russia Jose Antonio Morato Tavares and the Ambassador of Vietnam to Russia Ngo Duc Manh attending, along with a number of diplomats from other embassies of the member countries of the Association.
Russia was represented by MGIMO’s Vice-Rector A.Malgin (Co-chairman of the council from the Russian side) and the Senior Researcher of the Department of Oriental Studies, Professor N.Maletin. The Director of the Department of Asia and Pacific Cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry A.Ovchinnikov and the Permanent Representative of Russia to ASEAN A.Ivanov participated remotely in the meeting.
MGIMO Rector A.Torkunov delivered a welcome speech to the audience, noting that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the ASEAN Centre had managed to successfully pursue its activities online in 2020. Last year, the ASEAN Centre set up and rolled out a number of high-profile academic, educational and cultural events, including the ASEAN Academic Days and ASEAN Week at MGIMO. In November 2020, the second meeting of the Network of ASEAN-Russia Think Tanks (NARTT) was held jointly with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta (CSIS). In February 2020, before lockdown measures were implemented, MGIMO hosted an expert round table on the problems of the Asia-Pacific region with the participation of ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi, who was in Moscow on an official visit.
During the meeting, the report on the work of the Center in 2020 was discussed; questions regarding financial matters and a preliminary work plan for 2021 were submitted for the Board to review. The Director of the ASEAN Centre V.Sumsky and the Leading Expert of the Centre, the Associate Professor of the Department of Oriental Studies E.Koldunova gave talks on these issues. During the discussions, the ASEAN partners complemented the Center on its activities and made some recommendations for its upcoming projects.
A new educational project of the Centre, which aroused widespread interest, was presented to the Executive Board. The participants of the meeting decided unanimously to review in detail the proposal.
As the meeting came to a close, the sides resolved to submit the documents of the Center for final approval to the Russia-ASEAN Joint Cooperation Committee, the annual meeting of which is expected to take place in March in Jakarta.
