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Thursday 25 November 2021

26th Conference "Southeast Asia and the South Pacific Region: Actual Issues of Development"

 
The 26th annual scientific inter institutional conference "Southeast Asia and the South Pacific Region: Actual Issues of Development" was held on the 24th-25th of November, 2021. The event was organized by the Center of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania, (the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences). The conference was held online.

Organizer: E.M. Astafieva
Moderators: D.V. Mosyakov, E.M. Astafieva

More than 50 people took part in the conference. 40 reports were presented on topical issues of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific Region development, as well as issues of international relations in these regions. 12 reports were presented in absentia.

Presentations were made by scientists and young specialists from the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences), the Institute of the Far-East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the Institute of Asia and Africa of Moscow State University, Irkutsk State University, RUDN, the Academy of National Economy, University of Chicago, Pakistani and New Zealand independent researchers.

In particular, the researchers considered the issue of new challenges to the unity and international role of ASEAN, the interaction of this organization with China and the United States, the reaction of Russia, China and the ASEAN countries to the AUKUS bloc creation, ASEAN relations and dialogue partners transformation in new regional and international conditions.

At the conference much attention was paid to the internal political development of Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore, the interaction specifics between Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar with China, and the issues of combatting the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the region.

It is also necessary to highlight a block of reports devoted to the analysis of the South Pacific region issues, in particular, the creation of the AUKUS block. It has become a new geostrategic challenge for the countries of the South Pacific, the issues of China-New Zealand relations, the nuclear issue in the South Pacific, Australia's and PRC trade disputes.

Traditionally, the conference highlighted the issues of economic development, including the place of Southeast Asian countries in global value chains, specific features of gold mining in Indonesia, Indian-Thai trade relations, the state of the Australian economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economies of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, the specifics of cross-border trade between China and ASEAN, and other issues. The conference review will be published in the next issue of the journal "Southeast Asia: Actual Issues of Development", Volume 4, No. 4 (53), 2021