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Russia looks to Southeast Asia

Dmitry Kosyrev

AT THE ASEAN-Russia summit in Malaysia on December 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin focussed on practical here-on-the-ground issues, detailing factors that promote or hinder Russia's effort to become for Southeast Asian nations an economic partner on the same scale as China, India, or Japan.

A first-political-then-economic partnership is a thing of a distant future. What President Putin clearly decided to do during his ASEAN appearance was to pave a road for business in Southeast Asia.

For Moscow, Russia's development from a "dialogue partner" to a "summit partner" of ASEAN is a logical and timely event, fully in line with the process of trade turnover growth.

On the surface, the $4 billion to $4.5 billion on the Russia-ASEAN books do not seem a great deal of money (though it is expected to hit $5.5 billion this year). However, the growth is fast, a billion dollars every year.

Related events in Kuala Lumpur, held simultaneously with the summit, were a clear demonstration that Russian businesses have made substantial, if not always smooth, progress in Southeast Asia in the last few years.

The 3rd ASEAN Business and Investment Forum that brought together major regional businessmen and senior government officials from ASEAN member and partner states was held at the Shangri-La Hotel, a 10 minutes' walk from the magnificent steel-and-glass conference centre taken over by the political leaders.

On Russia's day at the summit — called the Second (the first was in 2000) ASEAN-Russia Business Forum — all were prepared for a presentation from Leonid Reiman, the Russian IT and Communications Minister. Though Mr. Reiman apologised for being unable to come personally on account of illness, his presentation was read and distributed among the audience, and it was really something worth waiting for. Russia, a country that has 22 million frequent Internet users and year after year posts 30 per cent growth for its IT sector but still ranks far behind India or Malaysia in the minds of Asian IT market players, has made some very hard to refuse offers.

Tuesday's proposals, moreover, were hardly a blind shot. Russian IT specialists have been on first-name terms with their Southeast Asian counterparts for years and know what the region needs most.

Among Russian hardware brought to Kuala Lumpur, eyes were glued to the Air Firefighter, the Be-200 amphibian, and to what has long been considered a secret weapon — the wing-in-ground (WIG) craft, a unique low-altitude vehicle.

In a region where small islands and swamps account for a good part of the terrain and, more importantly, where people rapidly take to every new gadget, a WIG show could steal the limelight.

And the timing for the Russian technology show was good — on December 9-11, Malaysia hosted another technological event, the LIMA 2005 arms show on Langkawi Island, where Russia, with its Yak-130 Mitten G5 trainer aircraft, probably the world's best advanced trainer now, was one of the key players.

Back in 2000, at the first ASEAN-Russia Business Forum, both the general mood and the agenda clearly showed Russia was seen as a country to watch. Now it is a country to talk to. — RIA Novosti

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