MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. Russia stands for strengthening ASEAN’s role in regional affairs, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said on Tuesday.

He noted that ASEAN is one of the centers of political and trade-and-economic cooperation in the Asia Pacific region and "is playing a major role in ensuring peace, stability, and mutual trust between the key regional players."

"Russia stands for strengthening ASEAN’s central role in regional affairs. The association’s approaches are close to Russia’s concept of equal and indivisible security," he said at the consultations of high representatives from Russia and ASEAN nations.

Patrushev noted the fact that a meeting in this format is being held offline for the first time. He thanked the Cambodian colleague as coordinators of the Russia-ASEAN dialogue partnership for their assistance in the organization of the meeting.

Set up in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, now has ten members, namely Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysian, Singapore, Brunei. The Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Papua New Guinea and East Timor enjoy the observer status. East Timor’s application for membership was approved in 2023 and it is expected to join the association in 2023.