World meat industry news

Russia and ASEAN have agreed to enhance and widen economic cooperation at the 10th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM)-Russia Consultations held in September 2021, including the adoption of a revised ASEAN-Russia Trade and Investment Cooperation Work Program for the 2021-25 period.

At the meetings, ASEAN and Russia agreed on a revised ASEAN-Russia Trade and Investment Cooperation Roadmap (the “Roadmap”), which is a high-level agreement setting the goals for trade between the two parties. The ASEAN-Russia Trade and Investment Cooperation Work Program (the “Program”) is an associated agreement – also updated at the meetings – that guides the implementation of the Roadmap.

Russia, while the principal member of the EAEU, is also a dialogue partner with ASEAN, giving it a seat at the table and therefore able to understand the mechanisms and dynamics of Southeast Asia. Russia actively participates in ASEAN-led multilateral mechanisms, including the East Asia Summit, and the ASEAN Regional Forum amongst others.

Here, we look at the details of the Program and its direction for the upcoming 2021-25 period.

The Work Program: An overview

The Program is an implementation agreement in support of the Roadmap’s broader goals. The Roadmap’s main goal is to enhance economic cooperation to address emerging challenges and opportunities for trade and investment between ASEAN and Russia. To do so, the Roadmap seeks to:

• Improve two-way trade and investment flows between ASEAN and Russia;
• Support ASEAN’s deepening economic integration;
• Bring about broader economic integration between ASEAN and Russia as well as within ASEAN; and
• Cooperation towards contributing to the multilateral trading system.

The agreement describes the Program as a “living document” subject to review on a regular basis. The following is an overview of the six tasks included in the most recent publicly available Program from August 2020.