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Economic Development Minister: Russia, ASEAN approve more than 50 investment projects

KUALA LUMPUR / Malaysia/August 25 /TASS/. More than 50 Russian investment projects were approved at the consultations between the Economic Development Ministers of Russia and the ASEAN/ Association of Southeast Asian Nations/ during the Malaysian business forum, the Economic Development Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Russian companies show a growing interest in developing cooperation with ASEAN partners. As a result, today we have 57 project proposals. And I think that this is not the final list," Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said as cited by the statement of the ministry.

The list of projects proposed by Russian companies and business associations for their implementation in Russia and the ASEAN countries covers such sectors as energy, mechanical engineering, information and communications technology, innovation, transport and logistics, medicine and agriculture.

One of the major tasks is the search for partners for a joint implementation of these projects, Ulyukayev said.

The Economic Development Ministry plans to do this with the help Russia-ASEAN Business Council, Russia’s trade missions of in ASEAN countries. In addition, bilateral working groups are being created on priority investment projects with ASEAN countries.

"The Russian-Vietnamese working group has already proven its effectiveness. In the near future similar groups will be set with Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand," Ulyukayev said.

In 2014, the mutual trade turnover of Russia and Malaysia grew by almost 23% compared with 2013 year and reached $3.3 billion, according to the ministry’s statement.

In 2014, GDP of ASEAN member countries amounted to about $ 6.4 billion or 5.9% of the total world GDP. The volume of foreign direct investments accumulated gained by the association member states last year, amounted to $ 1.7 billion - about 6.5% of the global total of investments.