Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn will attend the Special ASEAN-Russian foreign ministers’ meeting via video conference on July 6. The occasion marks the 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-Russia dialogue partnership.

The meeting will be co-chaired by Indonesia, the current country coordinator for ASEAN-Russia dialogue relations, and Russia.

“The special meeting will review the achievements of ASEAN-Russia relations over the last 25 years across areas including politics, security, trade and economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges,” the foreign ministry said in a press release on July 5.

It said the meeting will also follow up on the ASEAN-Russia special meeting on Covid-19 held last year.

The ministry said this meeting will further develop the ASEAN-Russia strategic partnership for long-term cooperation during the current global challenges.

Cambodia will take on the role as country coordinator for ASEAN-Russia dialogue relations from August 2021.

Kin Phea, director of the Royal Academy of Cambodia’s International Relations Institute, told ` on July 5 that in the bilateral framework, Cambodia and Russia are strategic partners.

In the multilateral framework, Cambodia can develop relations with Russia in the Russia-ASEAN framework, he said.

“We hope that Cambodia-Russia relations will improve in line with our economic diplomacy policy, which the government has focused on market diversification, because we do not allow the Cambodian market to depend too much on any region or country,” he said.

Phea said the introduction of the economic diplomacy policy is to ensure the diversification of Cambodia’s export market.

Russia can invest in Cambodia in agriculture and energy, and Russia can also provide human resource training in technology and the military, he said.

Since 1993, relations between Cambodia and Russia have strengthened and expanded in all areas, he noted.