President Putin proposes EAEU colleagues to begin consultations with countries of SCO and ASEAN on establishing economic partnership

MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed colleagues from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to begin consultations with countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on establishing economic partnership, he said at his annual state of the nation address to the Federal Assembly on Thursday. "I propose to begin consultations together with the colleagues from the Eurasian Economic Union on forming a possible economic partnership with the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as with the countries that are joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," Putin said. He noted that together these countries account for nearly one-third of the world economy in terms of purchasing-power parity. According to Putin, the initial phase of the partnership could focus on protecting investment, optimizing procedures of movement of goods across borders, joint development of standards for the production of next-generation technology and the opening mutual market access for services and capital. "Naturally, this partnership should be based on principles of equality and mutual interest," the Russian leader said. Putin said he was sure that "this partnership creates new possibilities for Russia for increasing supplies of food, energy resources, engineering, educational, health and tourism services to the Asia-Pacific region and will allow us to play a leading role in the formation of new technological markets, and extend major global trade flows to Russia." In general, according to Putin, Russia is interested in a wide cooperation with other countries, welcomes investors, tuned to the long-term work in the Russian market, "even despite the current circumstances, which is not always easy." "We highly appreciate their positive attitude towards our country, towards the benefits that they see here for the development of their business," the President said. He noted that Russia is already involved in the integration processes, including those in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Agreement in principle on the EAEU conjunction with the Chinese economic initiative of the Silk Road is reached, free trade zone between the EAEU and Vietnam is created, Putin added. He hopes that a joint agenda of mutually beneficial cooperation will be developed at the ASEAN-Russia Summit in Sochi in 2016. Read more