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Not all APEC leaders ready to discuss expansion — Russian Foreign Ministry

A the same time, Russia advocates closer cooperation between APEC and the EAEU

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Not all leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum are ready to discuss adding new economies to the association at this point, Russian Foreign Ministry special envoy, top Russian official at APEC Kirill Barsky said during an online briefing Wednesday.

"I know that there are economies that would like to join our forum. It is also known that not everybody in the APEC is ready to discuss the matter of expansion of the APEC, not now at least. There are somewhat different goals before the APEC economies. They should probably be resolved first," he said.

Barsky also underscored that Russia advocates closer cooperation between APEC and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

"The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) believes the same, it is interested in expanding the circle of its partners and would like to establish closer contacts with APEC," the envoy said. He added that the exchange of experience and solutions, joint events or at least EEC’s participation in APEC events would only facilitate the successful resolution of tasks faced by the association’s leaders.

" APEC has reached the kind of cooperation when, considering the situation in the region and the world, it should open its arms to other organizations and forums that work on similar issues, in order to achieve a synergy effect," Barsky noted. "While working within APEC, we will do everything to establish cooperation with the EAEU."

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