Ukraine Interested To Be ASEAN's Sectoral Dialogue Partner
KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (Bernama) -- Ukraine is determined to fortify its ties with ASEAN and is currently seeking to join the bloc as a sectoral dialogue partner said the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Iryna Borovets said.
Borovets also announced the appointment of Igor Polikha as Special Representative Ambassador-at-Large on ASEAN. Polikha's main responsibility will be to create sectoral collaboration and discussion between ASEAN and Ukraine.
She said this during her opening address at the Ukraine-ASEAN: Vision of Cooperation, organised by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry held at Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv on Thursday.
The session was also streamed live on the ministry’s Facebook.
She said Ukraine will send a relevant letter regarding the country’s wish to be ASEAN’s sectoral partner to Laos’s Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, as the current Chair of ASEAN and the secretary-general of ASEAN Kao Kim Hourn.
“Ukraine wants to strengthen cooperation with countries of the global south and particularly the Southeast Asian countries. Ukraine-ASEAN relation potential is huge,” she added.
During the event, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry’s director for Indo-Pacific Olexander Nechytaylo said southeast Asia has always been a very significant part of Ukraine’s foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific.
He said following Ukraine’s formal accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in South East Asia in 2022, a policy paper has been drafted on Ukraine-ASEAN's vision of cooperation.
The policy paper identifies the areas of cooperation that in Ukraine’s opinion can be mutual of interest and can bring some tangible benefits for both Ukraine and the ASEAN bloc which include food and agriculture, digital, trade, energy, disaster management, demining, social and economic cooperation.
Meanwhile, deputy secretary-general of ASEAN for ASEAN Economic Community Satvinder Singh in his address via video at the event said the ASEAN secretariat is ready to work with Ukraine through the Ukrainian embassy in Jakarta.
He said the sectors that Ukraine and ASEAN countries can work on include agriculture, food security, climate change, cyber security and digital transformation.
-- BERNAMA
