Ukraine Secures ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner Status, Aims for $5 Billion Annual Trade

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the country will be granted ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner status this year, a step it believes will open broader collaboration and help raise total trade with the ten-nation bloc to $5 billion per year. Merchandise trade between Ukraine and ASEAN reached roughly $2.75 billion in 2024, split between $1.12 billion in Ukrainian exports and $1.63 billion in imports, according to the Ukraine-ASEAN Gateway platform.

Heorhii Tykhyi highlighted Ukraine’s capacity to contribute digital-government services—such as a smartphone app that consolidates personal documents and enables tax payments—and agricultural technology to ASEAN members. The initiative builds on a February meeting between Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, which discussed cooperation on food security, energy and digitalisation. Ukraine’s Director for Asia and the Pacific, Zhanna Leshchynska, noted that the bid follows Kyiv’s 2022 accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and ongoing bilateral talks with countries like the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. The embassy in Indonesia is coordinating with the Jakarta-based ASEAN Secretariat to finalize the partnership.