Lecture “ASEAN and Changing Regional Dynamics: Does ASEAN Matter?” by Dr. R.M. Marty M. Natalegawa

March 10th, the «ASEAN Academic Days 2021 at MGIMO», consisting of a new cycle of online lectures and a series of academic and educational events, began at MGIMO. The initiative, launched by the ASEAN Centre, has been running for the past two years. The first guest speaker was Marty Natalegawa, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia (2009-2014), who spoke on “ASEAN and changing regional dynamics”. The meeting was moderated by E.Koldunova, Associate Professor of the Department of Oriental Studies and Leading Expert of the ASEAN Centre.

The remote meeting was attended by the Director of the ASEAN Centre V.Sumsky, representatives of the diplomatic missions of ASEAN countries in Moscow (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos and Cambodia) and by diplomats of the Russian Embassy in Indonesia.

M.Natalegawa started with a historical review of the development of ASEAN, highlighting the key stages of its formation, and emphasized that the Association has been the central driving force of regional processes over the past few decades. Sharing his insights on the current situation, M.Natalegawa remarked that ASEAN today faces a difficult choice and the need to develop a clear strategy to face the challenges and threats it is confronted with, including the growing rivalry between major regional powers and a number of growing intraregional problems.

The audience listened with great interest to M.Natalegawa’s lecture which was attended by over 100 people from 16 countries of the world — Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, India, Nepal, the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and others. The audience comprised students, researchers, diplomats and representatives of mass media from Russia and ASEAN countries.

The organizers received during the session over 40 questions. After the lecture, M.Natalegawa engaged in discussions with the audience on topics such as ASEAN in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prospects for cooperation between Russia and ASEAN, the current situation in Myanmar and the position of ASEAN, democratization processes, human rights and the level of development of civil society in the countries of the region.

The event was broadcast live on the University’s YouTube channel as well as on MGIMO and the ASEAN Centre pages on Facebook.

Upcoming events within the educational program «ASEAN Academic Days 2021 at MGIMO» are scheduled for March-April. Announcements and registrations will be available on the ASEAN Centre website and the Facebook page.