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Russia has ‘no other option’ but to engage Asia: Envoy
Russia seeks more engagement with Indonesia and Southeast Asia and is preparing for a big splash next year to increase its visibility, Russian envoy Lyudmila Vorobieva has said.
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Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva (center) poses with winners and finalists of the essay and logo design competitions held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations during a ceremony at her official residence in South Jakarta in September 2019. (JP/Novan Iman Santosa)
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ussia’s envoy in Jakarta has said that the Eurasian giant has “no other option” but to engage Asia’s biggest economies, as it aims to increase cooperation with Indonesia and the region amid heightened competition from the Western world.
The Indo-Pacific, with Southeast Asia at its crux, has been the site of growing commercial and strategic interest in recent years, with major and emerging powers from the region and beyond seeking to benefit from what economists dub one of the world’s “engines of growth”.
From the United States and its allies to individual European Union member states, to neighboring China, India and far-flung Middle Eastern countries, much of the recent attention has been focused on and around busy global maritime trade routes in the region.
Russia is no exception. It also seeks more engagement with Indonesia and Southeast Asia, and is preparing for a big splash next year to increase its visibility, according to Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva.
The country is planning to showcase its industries by organizing its annual trade exhibition INNOPROM in Jakarta in March next year, in the hope of boosting more business-to-business interactions, the envoy said.
The event will be held as part of Indonesia’s Group of 20 presidency in 2022, with over 100 companies and some 300 delegates from Russia and Eurasian economies such as Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan heading to Jakarta to establish business links with Indonesian and ASEAN partners.
Vorobieva said this new approach with Indonesia served as a catalyst for Russia to work together with Asian economies like China, Japan, South Korea and other Southeast Asian nations, where projected economic growth remains high in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.
