🔹The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have adopted a joint action plan for 2023-2028 following their meeting with Russian 🇷🇺 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow (July 10th 2023). This is the sixth ministerial meeting of the Russia-GCC strategic dialogue. The agreed MoU on strategic dialogue proves the special character of relations between the GCC countries and Russia.

🔹The sides are cooperating in areas of the economy, defense and security, energy and politics. The organization hopes that ties with Russia will expand to other areas, such as academic cooperation and cultural exchanges. Supporting the territorial integrity of Syria was also discussed. The GCC includes Bahrain 🇧🇭, Qatar 🇶🇦, Kuwait 🇰🇼, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 🇦🇪, Oman 🇴🇲, and Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦.

🔹Oman’s 🇴🇲 Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said "We understand that Russia has vital interests in this region, [which] include, among other things, the development of logistics routes, the expansion of trade and economic interaction through us and with us in order to get to Africa and Asia through our region. We welcome the work and partnership with the Russian Federation in this direction..."

🔹Last month, GCC member UAE 🇦🇪 President Sheikh Al Nahyan met with Russian 🇷🇺 V. Putin in St. Petersburg to discuss the UAE-Russia strategic partnership framework. Previously we reported on this channel that a free trade agreement between China 🇨🇳 and the GCC is entering a “final stage”. GCC members Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia are interested in joining BRICS.

🔹Indonesian 🇮🇩 Foreign Minister (FM) R. Marsudi held a trilateral meeting with Russian 🇷🇺FM S. Lavrov and Chinese 🇨🇳 FM Wang Yi in Jakarta during a 3-day Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) 🇧🇳 🇰🇭 🇮🇩 🇱🇦🇲🇾 🇲🇲 🇵🇭 🇸🇬 🇹🇭 🇻🇳 Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Indonesia (the world's 4th most populated country) discussed ways to boost trilateral cooperation for ensuring food and energy security.

🔹Russia is calling for starting consultations on the use of national currencies in mutual payments with ASEAN countries to bypass USD 💵 denominated transactions. Western sanctions against Moscow decreased trade 🚢 turnover between Russia ASEAN countries by 4.4% in 2022.

🔹Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 became the 51st country to join the growing Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia. The TAC is a peace treaty aiming to promote stability and security in the region by creating guidelines for peaceful coexistence and friendly cooperation.

🔹India's 🇮🇳 FM S. Jaishankar also met with ASEAN members holding bi-lateral talks in finance, cyber and maritime domains. Russia & India's FMs' discussed bilateral relations and interaction within the SCO and BRICS. China and Russia's FM's held a bilateral meeting on supporting ASEAN playing a constructive role in the Asia-Pacific region.

🔹FM 🇷🇺 Lavrov revealed that Moscow is ready to share its advanced solutions in the peaceful nuclear industry with Indonesia. Russia supports Indonesia as the holder of the ASEAN chairmanship as Moscow aims to boost ties with ASEAN.

🔹ASEAN FM's also met to discuss the crisis in Myanmar 🇲🇲, a lingering problem for the region's peace and stability. Indonesia has emphasized that the five-point consensus must continue to be the reference in handling the Myanmar crisis.