All news

Culture ministers of Russia and ASEAN countries to discuss cooperation at Sochi summit

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. The culture ministers of Russia and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will adopt a joint statement on developing partner relations in cultural sphere at Russia-ASEAN summit on May 19-20, deputy director of Russian Culture Ministry’s department for international cooperation Olga Andonyeva told TASS on Friday.

"There is an agreement on cooperation in culture between our countries, it was adopted a rather long time ago. In the framework of the upcoming meeting of the ministers, a joint statement will be made on cooperation spheres we plan to develop. This statement will encompass the whole specter of cultural spheres," Adonyeva said.

She noted that multilateral cooperation between Russia and ASEAN in the sphere of culture is gradually developing but the format of these developments is unfortunately rather narrow. "Until the upcoming jubilee (of Russia-ASEAN relations), only one multilateral event was held. It was the joint youth orchestra or Russia and ASEAN member countries. All its performances were associated with main summits of the dialogue partnership held in Asian countries. The issue about holding a joint Russia-ASEAN cultural festival has long been considered. It will be for the first time fulfilled this year and devoted to the 20th anniversary of dialogue partnership," she explained.

The international culture festival is very important because the cultures of all countries in the partnership will be presented there for the first time. "They are diverse and come in various formats, and they will all be presented in one place. We hope that this will become a good tradition. We will try to do everything to organize this festival every year," Andonyeva said.

Russia-ASEAN summit

The Russia-ASEAN summit will be held in Sochi on May 19-20 and will become the biggest international event in Russia in 2016. 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.

Russia has been a dialog partner of ASEAN since July 1996. 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.