Esteemed Mr. Chairman,

Esteemed colleagues,

First of all I would like to thank our Philippine colleagues for the excellent organization of the present events in Manila.

Our meeting is being held in the conditions when the international community is in the process of elaborating adequate responses to the challenges and threats of our time. We are firmly convinced that this is possible only by combining efforts. One of the chief objectives in this context we believe is agreeing universal principles for ensuing security that can be a reliable guarantee of peace and prosperity. We allot a substantial role in its solution to the ASEAN Regional Forum as one of the authoritative mechanisms for shaping common approaches of the countries of the region.

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The situation surrounding the nuclear program of Iran remains complicated. We call on Iran to fully comply with the requirements of relevant UN Security Council resolutions. We see no alternative to a politico-diplomatic way of unblocking the problem. We welcome the emerging positive shifts in Iran's contacts with the IAEA. Removing the world community's concerns about the nuclear activities of Iran lies at the base of this problem. All the rest is secondary. Only through cooperation with the IAEA will Teheran be able to restore full trust in its nuclear program. Everyone stands to gain from this.

We positively assess the draft proposed by our American colleagues of an ARF Statement in Support of the Implementation of UNSCR 1540, especially as Russia was one of its cosponsors. We think that the adoption of this document would be a useful contribution to the cause of strengthening the nonproliferation regime.

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We believe that more energetic moves are required to arrange practical interaction between the ARF Section in the ASEAN Secretariat and the administrative structures of such authoritative regional organizations as the SCO and CICA. Especially as we last year in Kuala Lumpur adopted the appropriate conceptual document. This would constitute an important step along the road of building up multilateral cooperation in the field of security.

We are convinced that multilateral cooperation and collective mechanisms, based on international law, with the UN playing a central coordinating role, must underlie a future world pattern. This approach is determinant for the present trends in the AP region. And the activities of the ARF, in our view, open the way to the formation of a truly sustainable and truly multilateral security architecture in the region. For its part, Russia will continue facilitating this process.

Thank you for your attention.