Jakarta, Aug. 8 -- On 8 August in 1967, five countries of Southeast Asia signed the Bangkok Declaration. That day marked the inception of ASEAN.

At present, its birthday is widely celebrated in the region and beyond offering a good opportunity to reflect on the place of ASEAN in the emerging multipolar world and more specifically - as far as Russia is concerned - on the role and perspectives of our partnership in this context.

In almost six decades ASEAN has gone a very long and, in a sense, unique way. Conceived on the wave of decolonization, it contributed to building strategic trust between its members, as well as to their economic and social development.

Over more than half a century of its existence, ASEAN has become not only a pi...