Russia sees good prospects for cooperation with ASEAN countries - Lavrov

MANILA. July 22 (Interfax) - Russia sees good prospects for further expanding and enhancing its cooperation with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including in the food industry and energy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We see very good prospects in ensuring food and energy security, the digital transformation, and the platform economy," Lavrov said at the foreign ministers' meeting in the Russia-ASEAN format in Manila on Wednesday.

The documents adopted at the summit in Kazan set clear guidelines for efforts in all of these areas, he said.

Russia's progressive relations with ASEAN will continue, Lavrov said.

"Russia is strongly convinced that ASEAN is our reliable partner and holds similar views. For our part, we consistently support ASEAN's central role in all regional affairs, doing as much as we can to help strengthen the interstate relations system built around the association and based on the principles of international law, openness, equality, and, I'd like to emphasize, consideration for the interests of all participants," Lavrov said.

"Our efforts will also gain serious support from the shared understanding of international processes reaffirmed in Kazan, the commitment expressed by the leaders to forming a more just and more sustainable multipolar world order, to strengthening the balanced security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region and, certainly, to enhancing comprehensive interaction across our huge Eurasian continent," he said.