Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (fourth, left), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other foreign ministers pose for a photo at a meeting on August 6 (Photo: AFP/VNA)Manila (VNA) – The ASEAN and its10 partner countries agreed several major cooperation plans at the ASEAN PostMinisterial Conference (PMC+1) sessions in Manila, the Philippines, on August6.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister PhamBinh Minh led the Vietnamese delegation to the events, part of the 50th ASEANForeign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM 50) and related meetings. As Vietnam is thecountry coordinator of the ASEAN-India dialogue partnership, Minh and India’sMinister of State for External Affairs General Vijay Kumar Singh co-chaired theASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
At the PMC+1 sessions, the foreign ministers fromASEAN and the 10 partner nations reviewed relations over the past year anddevised plans for future cooperation.
They focused on economy, trade, investment,connectivity, development gap narrowing, climate change, natural disastermanagement, people-to-people exchange and education. They also discussedregional and international issues of shared concern.
The dialogue partners congratulated ASEAN on its50th founding anniversary and hailed the bloc’s achievements after almost twoyears since the ASEAN Community was established. They pledged to continuesupporting ASEAN to enhance economic and regional connectivity, narrowdevelopment gaps and boost free and equal trade through existing free tradeagreements (FTAs) and those with bigger framework such as the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
The partner countries also lauded the grouping’srole in maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region. Theyaffirmed their support for ASEAN’s central role in an evolving regionalarchitecture.
Regarding regional and global issues, theforeign ministers discussed traditional and non-traditional securitychallenges, including the situations in the Korean Peninsula and the East Sea,terrorism and cyber security. They stressed the need for closer coordination todeal with issues of common concern.
The officials affirmed that the maintenance ofpeace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation in and overflightover the East Sea is a common interest, underlining the importance of resolvingdisputes by peaceful means based on international law, including the 1982 UN Conventionon the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and promoting the implementation of theDeclaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC). They welcomedASEAN’s and China’s adoption of a draft framework for a code of conduct (COC)in the East Sea and voiced their hope that both sides will soon negotiate tobuild an effective COC.
At the PMC+1 with Canada, the ministersapplauded the outcomes of the Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-CanadaEnhanced Partnership. They agreed to continue reinforcing bilateral cooperationin trade and investment, connectivity, education, natural disaster management,climate change and women’s empowerment. They also agreed to consider anASEAN-Canada FTA.
At the PMC+1 with the Republic of Korea (RoK),the foreign ministers highlighted the outcomes of the ASEAN-RoK Plan of Actionto Implement the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for Peace andProsperity and applauded various activities in the ASEAN-RoK Tourism CooperationYear, especially the opening of the ASEAN Cultural Centre in the RoK’s Busancity last September. They also lauded the nation’s assistance to improvingASEAN’s capacity to respond to challenges in the region.
The ministers also vowed to step up cooperationto raise bilateral trade to 200 billion USD in 2020.
At another meeting, the ASEAN and New Zealandforeign ministers agreed to continue carrying out the People Strategy and theProsperity Strategy and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA). They decidedto boost ties in fields such as education, small- and medium-sized enterprisesdevelopment, agriculture and renewable energy.
ASEAN appreciated New Zealand’s education andtraining support programmes, particularly the ASEAN Young Business LeadersInitiative and the English Language Training for Officials. On the occasion ofthe bloc’s 50th founding anniversary, New Zealand announced it will provideASEAN with lecturer training scholarships.
At the meeting with Australia, the two sides agreedto foster cooperation in tackling security challenges such as terrorism,violent extremism and human trafficking. They recognised the implementationoutcomes of the AANZFTA, the ASEAN-Australia Economic Cooperation Programme andthe ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Programme.
They lauded the programmes and initiativesimplemented in the New Colombo Plan to bolster educational cooperation andpeople-to-people links between the two sides.
At the PMC+1 with China, the ASEAN and Chineseforeign ministers applauded positive outcomes in various areas of co-operation,while stressing the need for more collaboration in trade, connectivity,development gap narrowing, regional integration enhancement, infrastructuredevelopment and production capacity improvement. They agreed to carry out thePlan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-China StrategicPartnership for Peace and Prosperity and the ASEAN-China FTA.
ASEAN and China will accelerate negotiations forthe RCEP, consider combining the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025 and theBelt and Road Initiative and make use of support resources, especially theASEAN-China Investment Co-operation Fund and the Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank.
The ministers agreed to designate 2018 as theChina-ASEAN Year of Innovation while signing an amended memorandum ofunderstanding on the ASEAN-China Centre.
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At the meeting, the ASEAN and Chinese officialsadopted a draft framework for a COC in the East Sea, creating a foundation forsubstantive negotiations for the deal. They also underscored the importance ofkeeping peace, stability, security and safety of navigation in and overflightover the East Sea, peacefully settling disputes on the basis of internationallaw, including the 1982 UNCLOS, fully implementing the DOC, exercisingself-restraint and avoiding actions that may escalate tensions.
As the coordinator for ASEAN-India relations, FM Minh andIndian Secretary of State for External Affairs General Vijay Kumar Singhco-chaired the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference plus India. The two sides agreedto continue to implement the ASEAN-India Action Plan, especially in economics,trade, investment, while increasing competitiveness of small- and medium-sizedenterprises and responding to security challenges more effectively.
They agreed to speed up the signing of a memorandum ofunderstanding on establishing an ASEAN-India Centre.
The ministers welcomed activities to celebrate the 25thanniversary of the ASEAN-India dialogue partnership, pledging to contribute to holdinga commemorative summit marking the 25th anniversary of the partnership onJanuary 25-26, 2018, in India’s New Delhi.
For the US, the ministers reaffirmed the important principlesfor ASEAN-US relations mentioned in the Sunnylands Declaration issued in February2016, while emphasising the need to build on achievements gained in the past 40years.
The two sides agreed to focus on intensifying economic andtrade cooperation, developing small- and medium-sized enterprises, boostingcollaboration in education and maritime issues and responding to non-traditionalsecurity challenges.
The ASEAN nations welcomed the US’s maintenance of itscommitments to the region and President Donald Trump’s pledge to attendregional meetings later this year.
For the partnership with Japan, ASEAN lauded the country’s helpin building the ASEAN Community, including its commitments to helping narrowdevelopment gaps, realise quality growth in the Mekong region and improveinfrastructure and human resources for industry.
At the conference, the ministers approved a plan onadjustments to the Vision Statement on ASEAN- Japan Friendship and Co-operationand vowed to implement the 2016-2025 Framework for Comprehensive EconomicPartnership.
With the European Union (EU), the countries acknowledged theoutcomes of the ASEAN-EU Action Plan for 2013-2017, approving a Declaration onthe 40th anniversary of the bilateral relations and a new Action Plan for2018-2022 and an ASEAN-EU Declaration on the Paris Agreement. They reaffirmedtheir commitment to working together on climate change.
At the conference with Russia, the ministers acknowledgedprogress in implementing the outcomes of the ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summitin Sochi in May 2016 and the 2016-2020 ASEAN-Russia Action Plan. They reached aconsensus on approving a declaration of foreign ministers on fightinginternational terrorism and a plan to make a report on the ASEAN-Russia EminentPersons’ Group.
Leading the Vietnamese delegation, Deputy PM and FM Minhactively contributed ideas to discussions at the conferences.
He lauded the support from the partners for ASEAN during itscommunity building and maintaining its central role in the region.
He also proposed deepening bilateral cooperation with a focuson ASEAN’s priority fields, including tightening connectivity, narrowingdevelopment gaps and dealing with trans-national crimes, maritime security andsafety, disaster management and disease prevention.
Regarding regional and international issues, Minh stressedthe central role of ASEAN and the importance of cooperation between the ASEANState members and their partners for peace, stability and development in theregion.
He shared concern over recent and current complicateddevelopments in the East Sea, including unilateral actions like landreclamation and militarisation that erode trust and affect peace, stability,maritime and aviation security and safety in the East Sea.
He asked partner countries to maintain their support forASEAN and contribute to peace and stability in the region, while encouragingparties involved to obey basic principles such as exercising self-restraint andsettling disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law,including the UNCLOS, implementing the DOC fully and effectively and workingtoward the formation of an effective COC in the East Sea, based on thefreshly-approved draft framework.
On August 7, the foreign ministers will attend the ASEAN PlusThree Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with China, the Republic of Korea and Japan,the 7th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers Meeting with China, the Republic ofKorea and Japan, the US, India, Russia, Australia and New Zealand and the 24thASEAN Regional Forum with the participation of the 10 ASEAN member states and17 partner countries.-VNA
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