The Russia-ASEAN Business Council, with the support of the Roscongress Foundation conducted Russia-ASEAN Business Dialogue, which was held on September 2, 2021 in the framework of Eastern Economic Forum-2021.

Ivan Polyakov, Chairman of the Russia-ASEAN Business Council, noted during his welcome remarks that in 2021 we are celebrating a double anniversary – the 30th anniversary of the establishment of relations between Russia and ASEAN and the 25th anniversary of the full-format Russia-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership.

Sergey Katyrin, President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, noted that there is a steady interest in cooperation between Russian entrepreneurs and business of the association countries, this is clearly evidenced by the growth of Russia's foreign trade with the ASEAN countries. In the first half of 2021, the foreign trade turnover amounted to 9.04 billion US dollars, almost 2 billion US dollars higher than in the first half of last year.
"The development of the digital agenda within the framework of the EAEU-ASEAN dialogue will also contribute to the formation of the digital space of the Greater Eurasian Partnership. Here we see the need to develop our cooperation in terms of exchanging experience in such aspects as regulatory regulation and standardization, information security, increasing export-import volumes in relation to digital services," said Sergey Katyrin.

U Zaw Min Win, President of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, drew attention to the fact that Myanmar and Russia maintain close political relations, and trade and economic cooperation is gradually expanding. The trade turnover between Russia and Myanmar in 2020 amounted to $ 61 million, Myanmar exports clothing, shoes, cereals and fruits to the Russian Federation, and imports electrical equipment, chemical industry products.
"I believe that the Russia-ASEAN Comprehensive Action Plan for 2021-2025, as well as the initiative to hold the Russia-ASEAN Year of Scientific and Technical Cooperation in 2022 are important tools for the development of cooperation between Russia and ASEAN," said the head of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Nguyen Hong Dien , Minister of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in his video message to the participants of the meeting, said that the Covid-19 pandemic had a serious impact on the world economy, including the Asia-Pacific region. In this regard, it is important to create the necessary mechanisms for the development of international cooperation.

The issues of tourism were highlighted by the Deputy Head, Federal Agency for Tourism (Rosturizm) Elena Lysenkova. In her speech, she informed about the key projects of the department: the Russian language training program for representatives of the tourism industry of the ASEAN countries and the initiative for cooperation between social media of Russia and the ASEAN countries.

Sergey Machekhin, Deputy General Director Project Engineering and International Cooperation of RusHydro, spoke about the company's active work in the field of export of engineering services and the development of renewable energy in the ASEAN countries.
"RusHydro invites partners from ASEAN to participate in the RnD cluster (Research and development) of RusHydro. In addition, a center for scientific and technical development and the introduction of innovative technologies is currently being created on Russian Island in Vladivostok. This year, it is planned to open laboratories for the study of promising technologies in geothermal and hydrogen energy"- Sergey Machekhin reported.

Also, within the framework of the business dialogue, Quoc Viet Do, Member of the Board of the Association of Vietnamese Businessmen, Musa Adinin, Managing Director of the Adinin Group of Companies (Brunei), Winnie Teo, General Director of Progress Engineering (S) Pte Ltd (Singapore), Denis Nevzorov, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Technological Development of the Far East and the Arctic of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, Gohar Barseghyan, Director of the Integration Development Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

There was an active discussion of barriers and promising areas for increasing mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and ASEAN in trade, economic and investment during the business dialogue.