On the afternoon of December 18, in Hanoi, Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet chaired an inter-ministerial and sectoral meeting to review ASEAN cooperation and Vietnam's participation in 2024 and orientations for 2025.
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| Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet chaired an inter-ministerial and sectoral meeting to review ASEAN cooperation and Vietnam's participation in 2024 and orientations for 2025. (Photo: Anh Son) |
Implementing the Working and Coordination Regulations between agencies participating in ASEAN cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized an inter-ministerial and sectoral review meeting on ASEAN cooperation and Vietnam's participation in 2024 and orientations for 2025 with the participation of many representatives of departments, ministries and sectors.
Looking back at ASEAN cooperation over the past year, Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet assessed that ASEAN continued to have a successful year with many important results. Facing the impact of profound changes in the global and regional environment, ASEAN continued to promote its solidarity, central role, enhance its self-reliance and strategic autonomy, respond flexibly and balancedly to international and regional issues, and effectively respond to non-traditional security challenges such as climate change, epidemics, and transnational crimes.
Under the theme “ASEAN: Advancing Connectivity and Resilience”, the Lao Chairmanship has successfully promoted many focuses and priorities across all three pillars. ASEAN maintains positive growth momentum with a forecast of 4.5% in 2024 and 4.7% in 2025, promoting linkages and connectivity among economies through intra- and extra-regional trade in services, trade in goods, and investment agreements.
ASEAN also quickly grasped new growth drivers, actively shaped, concretized and implemented many frameworks on digital economy, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, self-reliant supply chain, sustainable agriculture, etc.
The identity of an ASEAN Community for the people continues to be deepened through specific initiatives such as promoting the role of women and children, strengthening the care economy, plastics circulation, and a regional public health emergency coordination system. The framework of relations between ASEAN and its partners has been comprehensively implemented, with many partners establishing and upgrading relations with ASEAN, opening up new potential for cooperation in many areas.
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| Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet speaks at the meeting. (Photo: Anh Son) |
These positive developments have contributed to consolidating a solid foundation for the new phase of ASEAN. The ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and its Implementation Strategies, to be adopted in 2025, will continue and build on the achievements, enhance the capacity to adapt to new trends and create new opportunities for stronger development of ASEAN.
Promoting its role as a proactive, active and responsible member, Vietnam continues to make many practical and quality contributions to ASEAN cooperation, closely coordinating and supporting Laos to successfully assume the responsibility of ASEAN Chair 2024.
Representatives of ministries, departments and branches shared specific information about Vietnam's participation in each area of ASEAN cooperation, reflecting throughout and consistently our spirit of friendship, goodwill and responsibility for the common work.
Vietnam continues to affirm its core role in maintaining solidarity and unity, consolidating ASEAN's principled stance, and fully participating in defense, security and judicial cooperation activities. Taking on many important responsibilities in the mechanisms of the ASEAN economic pillar such as coordinating ASEAN-EU economic relations, chairing ASEAN Customs and co-chairing the ASEAN Sustainable Finance Task Force, Vietnam promotes its proactive and leading role in promoting the implementation of economic cooperation commitments and agreements. Also in 2024, Vietnam will host many conferences in the socio-cultural channel, integrating and effectively implementing the priorities of the ASEAN Community at the national level.
Discussing the direction of ASEAN participation in 2025, the meeting agreed to continue to participate and contribute more effectively to the process of building the ASEAN Community, linking the country's priorities with those of ASEAN and the region, and successfully organizing the ASEAN Future Forum 2025 with the theme "Building a united, resilient and inclusive ASEAN Community in a changing world", scheduled for February 2025.
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| Representatives of ministries, departments and branches attended the meeting. (Photo: Anh Son) |
Vietnam's ministries, sectors and agencies proactively coordinate with ASEAN countries to complete the ASEAN Master Plan 2025 on time, build the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and strategies, expand and deepen relations between ASEAN and partners, including effectively implementing the coordinating role of ASEAN-UK and ASEAN-New Zealand relations.
Faced with greater expectations for ASEAN and Vietnam's role in ASEAN in the coming time, delegates especially emphasized the need to soon perfect the inter-sectoral and inter-pillar coordination mechanism between agencies participating in ASEAN cooperation, improve the capacity of officials participating in ASEAN cooperation and mobilize resources from ASEAN cooperation mechanisms and partners, further enhance the quality and effectiveness of participation and coordination with a smooth and streamlined procedural process, placed in the overall revolution of building a streamlined, strong, efficient, effective and efficient apparatus.
The meeting also agreed to carry out practical commemorative activities in 2025, marking the 30th anniversary of Vietnam becoming a member of ASEAN, an event of historic significance for the country's deep integration process. Propaganda activities need to be stepped up in 2025, to raise awareness, spread and disseminate information more widely and substantially about the strategic importance and benefits of joining ASEAN, bringing ASEAN closer to the people, businesses and localities.
Standing at the new historical starting point of the country, the beginning of a new journey of ASEAN, it is necessary to thoroughly understand that contributing to the future of ASEAN is also contributing to the common effort to bring the country firmly into a new era, an era of national growth.
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