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Putin invites representatives of Indonesia to SPIEF and Eastern Economic Forum

SOCHI, May 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin invited representatives of Indonesia to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June and the Eastern Economic Forum in September. The Russian President made such statement on Wednesday after talks with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo.

"We confirmed the stance to build up interaction across all areas," Putin said. "Following a certain decline in trade last year, growth appears in the current year; trade volume surged by nearly 14% in the first three months," the Russian President said. Russian and Indonesia should not merely maintain but increase the pace, Putin said.

"We invited Indonesian partners to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and the Eastern Economic Forum and agreed to help business circles on a system basis," the Russian president said.

Putin invited to visit Indonesia

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has extended an invitation to Vladimir Putin to pay a visit to his country.

"I am grateful to the Russian side for the atmosphere in which our talks passed. The dialogue was very constructive. We had an open and detailed discussion of all the issues that were of interest to us. With enormous respect, I would like to invite Vladimir Putin to pay a visit to Indonesia," Widodo said after his talks with Putin on Wednesday.

Vladimir Putin and Joko Widodo met each other for the first time on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Beijing on November 10, 2014.

The Russian leader has visited Indonesia twice: for an official visit in 2007 and for participation in the APEC summit on Bali in 2013.

Russia-ASEAN summit

The summit of Russia and the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be held in Sochi on May 19-20 and will become the biggest international event in Russia in 2016.

ASEAN comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar with a total population of over 600 million people. The Association aims to develop cooperation in the economic, social, cultural and other spheres, and also strengthen peace and stability in Southeast Asia.

Russia has been a dialog partner of ASEAN since July 1996. In December 2005, the first Russia-ASEAN summit was held in Kuala Lumpur. The summit participants signed a declaration on cooperation and approved an action plan - in effect a roadmap of Russia-ASEAN interaction. Similar partnership summits are normally held on the territory of member-states and the choice of Sochi as venue for the Russia-ASEAN summit on the partnership’s 20th anniversary is symbolic.

The summit will be held under the slogan "Towards Strategic Partnership for the Sake of the Common Good."

The summit is expected to adopt a declaration that will lay the basis for an action plan of Russia-ASEAN cooperation in the political, economic and cultural spheres, as well as in the sphere of security.

The gross domestic product of ASEAN member-states stands at about $3.5 trillion today and is expected to reach $4 trillion by 2020. ASEAN is becoming an increasingly attractive area for foreign investments, which grew by 16% in 2014 to over $136 billion.