ASEAN Sees Potential for Cooperation With EEU, Shares Same Goals

ASEAN and EEU have a potential for cooperation as they share same goals, ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh told Sputnik Thursday.

SOCHI (Sputnik) — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU, EAEU) have a potential for cooperation as they share same goals, including increasing connectivity and integration, ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh told Sputnik Thursday.

"We have the same goals including freedom of movement of goods and services, a goal of increasing connectivity. We have the same goals of integration and a number of ASEAN countries are looking towards partnership with EAEU. We see the potential for cooperation with EAEU," he said on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN Business Forum in Sochi.

ASEAN comprises the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. The association was set up on August 8, 1967 to accelerate economic, social and cultural development in the region.

The EEU, comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, is an international organization that encourages regional economic integration through the free movement of goods, services, and people within the union. It came into being on January 1, 2015.