Written by Michael Thervil
Photographer unknown
Just when the critics of Russia thought that Russia was limited to conducting business, fostering relationships in terms of trading and commerce ties with fellow BRICS members and other countries that surround its borders, they were forced to think again. This time Russia is forging ties with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. The countries that make up ASEAN are Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar, and the Philippines. Taking a point of editorial privilege; it is our position at VEDA Communications that the Philippines are not only a weak link within the ASEAN faction but poses more of a risk and a liability because they have shown themselves to break when pressure is applied by the Americans.
It seems that bringing Russia into the fold with ASEAN countries will aid all parties involved in increasing the GDP growth rate of both the Asian collective and Russia. With Russia’s unprecedented move of cutting off America from the ability to purchase uranium from them, despite allowing America to purchase uranium from them while undergoing American sanctions, it seems that Russia now has a several viable countries that will be able to purchase uranium from them at a possible discounted price if a deal is struck between Russian and the ASEAN collective.
We can say this because Russia appeared to have supplied ASEAN member countries with cheap energy via uranium for quite some time now, and with America out of the loop it's safe to consider that Russia will be looking to motivate ASEAN countries to take advantage of what Russia has to offer in the area of cheap energy. In addition to that, it was reported that outside of the conversation of energy, other topics for discussion between Russia and ASEAN countries were the following: Digital transformation, information security, energy, trade and export cooperation, artificial intelligence, banking and finance, social innovation, technology, medicine, tourism, healthcare, and education.
Although this sounds like the full gambit, we are quite sure that there were other things that were discussed that were not shared with the press – like security obligations between the countries. It was also reported that Russian Deputy Minister of industry and trade stated that direct cooperation between Russia and ASEAN countries have been undervalued for too long and in public recognizing and acknowledging that fact, it’s safe to say that Russia and ASEAN countries will be seeking to foster better socio-economic and geopolitical ties between themselves from now and well into the foreseeable future.
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