Vietnam co-chairs ASEAN Joint Cooperation Committee meeting

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 11th meeting of the ASEAN-Korea Joint Cooperation Committee (AKJCC) took place at the ASEAN Secretariat headquarters in Jakarta on March 21. This is the last JCC meeting of Vietnam as the coordinator of ASEAN-Korea relations for the 2021-2024 term.

Ambassador Nguyen Hai Bang, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to ASEAN, and Korean Ambassador to ASEAN Lee Jang-keun co-chaired the meeting.

The 11th meeting of the ASEAN-Korea Joint Cooperation Committee (AKJCC) took place at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

At the meeting, the two sides reviewed the cooperation situation in implementing the commitments of the 24th ASEAN-Korea Summit held in September 2023 and the progress of implementing the 2021-2025 Action Plan, and were pleased to acknowledge the remarkable achievements over the past year.

Under the key cooperation mechanism, the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund (AKCF), as of March 2024, the total approved budget for 27 ongoing projects reached US$102 million, of which US$17 million was newly disbursed in the past year. Korea reaffirmed its commitment to steadily increase its annual contribution to the Fund from US$16 million (2022) to double it by 2027.

Among the newly implemented projects, the most notable is the ASEAN-Korea Music Festival with a budget of 5.5 million USD in the period of 2023 - 2025. The first Music Festival took place in Jakarta, Indonesia in December 2023 and attracted more than 10,000 audiences. This year, the Music Festival will be held in Laos, the ASEAN Chair country in 2024.

The Korean side is finalizing a number of new lighthouse projects, including the ASEAN-Korea Methane Reduction Cooperation Project worth US$20 million, and two projects on Artificial Intelligence and ASEAN Data Infrastructure under the Korea-ASEAN Digital Innovation Framework (KADIF), to submit to the competent authorities for approval. The Korean side also said that it is actively developing a capacity building project to support Timor Leste's early official accession to ASEAN.

Entering the fourth year of implementing the 2021-2025 Action Plan, the number of activities and projects implemented has reached 451, an increase of nearly 100 compared to the same period last year, of which 350 activities and projects have been completed, spanning 113/128 action lines under all three pillars of political, economic and socio-cultural cooperation. This is an extremely positive signal as the two sides prepare to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN-Korea partnership this year.

On this occasion, Korean Ambassador Lee Jang-keun reaffirmed Korea's commitment to supporting ASEAN's central role through promoting the implementation of the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI), focusing on supporting the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Asia-Pacific (AOIP).

The Korean Ambassador also reiterated the proposal to establish a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with ASEAN, which was raised by Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to ASEAN leaders at the 24th ASEAN-Korea Summit in September 2023, and hoped that ASEAN would soon consider it positively.

Ambassador Nguyen Hai Bang and his ASEAN colleagues welcomed new proposals and initiatives from Korea to enhance bilateral cooperation, especially the upcoming lighthouse projects. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Also at the meeting, Ambassador Nguyen Hai Bang and his ASEAN colleagues welcomed new proposals and initiatives from Korea to strengthen bilateral cooperation, especially the upcoming lighthouse projects.

The Ambassadors said that Korea's focus on hot issues such as environmental pollution, marine waste, or new issues such as big data and artificial intelligence is very meaningful in supporting ASEAN to develop and realize the ASEAN Vision 2045.

At the meeting, representatives of the ASEAN-Korea Center in Seoul and the ASEAN-Korea Cultural House in Busan were also present to introduce the typical activities of these two units in 2023 and the 2024 action plan, which were recognized and highly appreciated by the countries.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/viet-nam-dong-chu-tri-hop-uy-ban-hop-tac-chung-asean-han-quoc-310287.html