MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. Having such global powers as Russia and China in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gives the organization added firepower to put out diplomatic fires around the world, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"We proceed from the premise that Russia and China’s large-scale potentials, as well as Moscow and Beijing’s participation in such novel multilateral groups as BRICS and the SCO, are capable of positively influencing both our interaction with the association as well as cooperation processes with its separate member states in the interests of settling global and regional issues in their entirety and interrelatedness on the firm foundation of the UN Charter," the top Russian diplomat noted during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Saleumxay Kommasit.
The Russian foreign minister stressed that ASEAN is essential in the fight to form a more just unipolar world order. "ASEAN has been and remains the 'core' of joint regional efforts aimed at ensuring the stable and safe non-aligned development of the Asia-Pacific region," he added.
Lavrov arrived in Vientiane on Thursday morning to participate in ASEAN events. He has already held meetings with his colleagues from East Timor, Indonesia and Cambodia on the sidelines of the event.