Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn asserted that ASEAN – which was established at the height of the Cold War – is playing a “very strong” role in the region and the global community, holding a “central” position in regional structures and now also has legal status with the adoption of the ASEAN Charter in 2008.

According to Mr. Kao Kim Hourn, with all 10 member countries now having Ambassadors - Permanent Representatives to ASEAN, in addition to ambassadors of dialogue partner countries and concurrent ambassadors of many other countries, it can be said that ASEAN is developing strongly in terms of diplomatic relations. In terms of the community, ASEAN has witnessed increasing connectivity and people-to-people exchanges; ASEAN citizens can now travel freely within the region without a visa.

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn.

ASEAN has become a single production base and market on the basis of an economic community. The ASEAN economic community is expanding, attracting increasing attention from trade partners. ASEAN has signed many bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with partners such as Japan, Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc.; has the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand; is negotiating an FTA with Canada and discussing the possibility of signing FTAs ​​with other trade areas such as the European Union (EU) to bring more benefits from free trade to its citizens.

Responding to the opinion that the bloc's decision-making process is still slow, the ASEAN Secretary-General stressed that decision-making based on consensus and consultation under the ASEAN Charter remains particularly important for ASEAN and is what helped the organization achieve its current status, ensuring equality among member states.

Currently, ASEAN has many cooperation and consultation mechanisms among member countries, as well as with external partners to narrow gaps and differences, and at the same time build trust, confidence, friendship and solidarity.

Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn said that ASEAN now has a Secretariat that works diligently to serve the core interests of the bloc as a whole, as well as the interests of individual member states, and to work with external partners to continue to support ASEAN's agenda, especially the work of building the ASEAN Community, promoting connectivity and integration, and ensuring that ASEAN continues to grow and develop.

According to him, to operate more effectively, efficiently, more adaptively, more appropriately, while maintaining its unity, solidarity and central role, ASEAN has established the High-Level Task Force (HLTF) on the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 to make recommendations and proposals for leaders to adopt by 2025, aiming to make ASEAN stronger and more ready to respond to challenges.

Referring to Vietnam's contributions since joining ASEAN on July 28, 1995, Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn highly appreciated Vietnam's active, proactive and responsible role, including promoting ASEAN to admit new members, bringing the organization together all mainland and island countries in the region and no longer being geographically divided.

Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn affirmed that Vietnam has been very proactive, not only participating but also actively contributing to ASEAN in many different ways, especially in building the community on the three pillars of politics-security, economy, culture and society, as well as promoting the bloc's foreign relations. Vietnam also participates in all mechanisms established by ASEAN, is one of the countries that actively participates and plays a key role in drafting the ASEAN Charter to ensure that this document is a guideline for the development of the ASEAN community.

Dr. Kao Kim Hourn also expressed his impression of Vietnam's strong economic and trade development with many bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs). According to him, Vietnam has made its own mark in this regional organization and achieved many successes in its three rotating ASEAN Chairmanships in 1998, 2000 and 2020. Vietnam also has a lot of experience in ASEAN integration activities, taking turns as the country coordinating relations with dialogue partner countries, and taking on many important roles in global organizations such as the United Nations Security Council.

Expressing his wish that Vietnam will continue to play a proactive and active role as a member of ASEAN, Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn said that Vietnam can share many valuable experiences with regional countries, for example in the fields of economic development, improving the quality of human resources, ensuring public health, disaster management, diplomacy and promoting the participation of external partners, in parallel with continuing to support the development of ASEAN in all areas and community pillars, as well as supporting the development of sub-regions including the Mekong Sub-region.

News and photos: VNA

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