According to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, General Secretary To Lam 's visit to Indonesia, the ASEAN Secretariat, and Singapore is of historical significance as Vietnam simultaneously upgraded relations with two ASEAN countries.
Special meanings
On the afternoon of March 13, General Secretary To Lam and his wife, along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, left Singapore to return home, successfully concluding a state visit to Indonesia, an official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat and an official visit to Singapore.
Sharing about the outstanding results of the visit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son said that the visit was very successful, achieving all the set goals at a high level.
During the five days, the General Secretary had more than 40 activities including meetings, talks, exchanges with various sectors, policy statements, meetings with the Vietnamese community in the two countries and visits to a number of economic and cultural establishments (Photo: VNA).
This is the first visit by a Vietnamese General Secretary to Indonesia after nearly 8 years (since August 2017), to Singapore after nearly 13 years (since September 2012) and the first official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat.
"The visit is of historic significance as Vietnam simultaneously upgraded relations with two ASEAN countries, thereby deepening Vietnam's cooperative relations with the two countries and contributing more effectively to the ASEAN common home," said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son.
To date, Vietnam is the only country in ASEAN with which Indonesia and Singapore have established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The historical significance of the visit also lies in the fact that for the first time a General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam visited the ASEAN Secretariat, highlighting the strategic importance of ASEAN to Vietnam, while affirming Vietnam's consistent policy of contributing more proactively and responsibly to the common cause of ASEAN.
During the five days, the General Secretary had more than 40 activities including meetings, talks, exchanges with various sectors, policy statements, meetings with the Vietnamese community in the two countries and visits to a number of economic and cultural establishments.
On this occasion, ministries, branches, localities, and enterprises of Vietnam and the two countries signed many cooperation agreements in many fields, including education and training, transnational crime prevention, fisheries, digital economy, digital transformation, green transformation, finance, etc.
During the talks and meetings, General Secretary To Lam and the leaders of Indonesia, Singapore and the ASEAN Secretariat had open and frank discussions on regional and international issues; agreed to strengthen coordination at regional and international forums and, together with ASEAN countries, promote cooperation to successfully build the ASEAN Community by 2045.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son assessed: "The visit has contributed to strengthening solidarity and ASEAN's central role in the regional structure."
Indonesia and Singapore, as founding countries of ASEAN and the most developed economies in the bloc, with Indonesia also a member of the G20, are both important partners in efforts to maintain ASEAN's cohesion in the face of external challenges.
The visit opens up opportunities for Vietnam to exchange and share development experiences from both countries. Indonesia, with its development strategy based on a large domestic market, and Singapore, with its open, export-oriented and high-tech economic model, and its position as a regional innovation hub, can support Vietnam in its new era of development.
The visit also contributed to strengthening relations between our Party and the ruling parties and political parties in Indonesia and Singapore, creating an important political foundation for relations between Vietnam and the two countries.
The Indonesian and Singaporean press are very interested in the visit, especially the two countries upgrading their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam, affirming that this is a significant step forward in the relationship between Vietnam and the two countries.
Early concretization of new relationship framework
To implement the results achieved from the visit to realize the expectations from upgrading the relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership with Indonesia and Singapore, and further contribute to ASEAN, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, the first task is to soon concretize the new relationship framework and urgently develop a comprehensive action plan to implement the comprehensive strategic partnership with the two countries.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son affirmed that General Secretary To Lam's visit has historical significance (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
Based on the Action Plans, relevant ministries and branches will soon develop specific cooperation programs to work immediately with partners; continue to promote traditional cooperation areas, while paying special attention to new contents and new fields, such as green economy, innovation, science and technology, digital transformation, green energy, etc.
At the same time, it is necessary to periodically review, urge and inspect the implementation of plans and programs so that the agreements can truly come to life, promote effectiveness and best serve development goals in the new period.
Regarding ASEAN, according to him, we need to continue to promote our proactive and responsible role, together with other countries, to strengthen ASEAN's solidarity, self-reliance and central role, and deepen the process of regional connectivity through cooperation frameworks.
These include the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and strategic plans that will begin implementation from 2026, as well as strongly promoting initiatives we have proposed, including the ASEAN Future Forum.
With the approach of "taking people as the center, subject and goal of the Community building process", we need to continue to give higher priority to bringing the ASEAN Community closer to the people, businesses and localities, effectively exploiting the benefits that ASEAN brings, especially in expanding investment and trade cooperation both within and outside the bloc, mobilizing more resources to effectively serve the socio-economic development goals of the country.
Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/y-nghia-lich-su-tu-chuyen-tham-indonesia-ban-thu-ky-asean-singapore-cua-tong-bi-thu-192250313193436479.htm
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