This was affirmed by Vietnamese Ambassador to ASEAN Ton Thi Ngoc Huong in an interview with VOV reporters on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of Vietnam joining ASEAN (July 28, 1995 - July 28, 2024).
On July 28, 1995, Vietnam officially became a member of ASEAN and during the journey of accompanying ASEAN for nearly 30 years, Vietnam has always determined to participate and contribute to ASEAN in a proactive, positive and responsible spirit.
Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong emphasized three important milestones in the process of Vietnam joining ASEAN, namely the Chairmanship of the ASEAN Standing Committee for the 2000-2001 term. After the ASEAN Charter was issued, Vietnam assumed the responsibility of ASEAN Chair in 2010 and 2020. Vietnam's ASEAN Chairmanship terms all marked Vietnam's very important and profound contributions to ASEAN, especially in 2020, when Vietnam and ASEAN experienced an extremely great challenge, the unprecedented Covid 19 pandemic, leaving very profound and serious consequences in the region and the world.
In addition, Vietnam also contributed to shaping important future development directions of ASEAN such as building and approving the Hanoi Action Plan in 1998 with ASEAN to respond to the 1997-1998 economic and financial crisis, contributing to building and implementing the ASEAN Vision 2020, the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, the ASEAN Charter as well as successfully assuming the role of coordinating relations between ASEAN and important partners such as China, Japan, South Korea, the US and Russia.
Vietnam's contributions have been recognized by ASEAN countries and partners, making a very important contribution to strengthening solidarity, unity, centrality and self-reliance of ASEAN in the face of a rapidly evolving and complex regional and international environment.
Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong said that Vietnam's commitment to ASEAN is consistent and continuous. Vietnam is always among the top countries in terms of the rate of implementing commitments on economic integration in the ASEAN region, and is also the country that initiated the idea of forming the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, paying great attention to building a harmonious, cohesive, unique, people-centered ASEAN Community.
At the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting from July 21-27 in Laos, Vietnam officially transferred the role of coordinating ASEAN-Korea relations and took over the role of coordinating relations between ASEAN and two new partners, New Zealand and the UK.
According to Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong, this is also a new practice in ASEAN, because for the first time Vietnam will assume the role of coordinating two partners at the same time in one period. Currently, Vietnam is closely coordinating with partners as well as the current coordinating country, Brunei, to carry out the smooth and effective transfer of the coordinating role as well as to develop a plan to promote relations between ASEAN and the two partners, New Zealand and the UK, for the period from 2024 to 2027.
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