KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (NNN-Bernama) — The first Centre for ASEAN Countries Studies was launched in Ukraine at the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
The Centre was officially opened on Oct 19 by Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, and witnessed by the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia Prof. Dr. Yuddy Chrisnandi, Ambassador of Vietnam Nguyen Hong Thach, and Charge d’affaires of the Embassy of Malaysia Fadhilah Daud.
The Embassy of Ukraine in Malaysia, in a statement to Bernama on Friday, said the Rector of the University Prof. Volodymyr A. Bugrov and Director of the Institute of International Relations Prof. Valerii Kopiika were at the ceremony on behalf of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
During the event, Kuleba addressed the students of the Institute of International Relations and discussed key aspects of Ukraine’s foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region and the priorities of cooperation with ASEAN.
“For most of the thirty years of Ukrainian independence, our foreign policy has not paid enough attention to Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, where Ukraine has many opportunities. When I became a minister, I immediately stated that we would pay fundamentally more attention to these regions. I urge you to be interested in them and I hope that in this audience among students there are future ambassadors of Ukraine to Asia, in particular to the ASEAN countries” the Minister stressed.
Kuleba stressed that the next milestone of the development of these relationships will be Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
“Ukraine has already submitted a relevant application, which is being considered by the ASEAN members. This will not only be an impetus for further development, but also a clear signal of a new quality of relations between Ukraine and the ASEAN countries”.
Last year during his speech dedicated to the celebration of the 53rd Anniversary of ASEAN, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister also announced the goal to increase the turnover between Ukraine and the ASEAN countries to up to US$5 billion by promoting trade, increasing investments, and implementation of the joint beneficial projects.
The establishment of the Centre for ASEAN Countries Studies is a result of collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University, and the embassies of the ASEAN Member States in Ukraine (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam).
— NNN-BERNAMA