Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Since joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 25 years ago, Vietnamhas rapidly integrated and deeply participated in all cooperation areas of ASEAN, actively helped to maintain intra-bloc solidarity,and strengthened cooperation among member states and between the group and itspartner countries, thus contributing remarkably to ASEAN’s development and successes today.
In particular, as the Chair of ASEAN 2020, Vietnam has actively joined hands with othermember countries in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to affirm the calibreof a resilient and dynamic community.
Over the last 25 years, Vietnam has made important and active contributionsto building and developing the ASEAN Community, showing its active and responsiblerole in the group.
In the context of the serious financial crisis in Asia in 1997-1998, Vietnamsuccessfully hosted the 6th ASEAN Summit in Hanoi in December 1998, just three years after it officially became a member of the bloc.
With the approval of the Hanoi Plan of Action, the 6th ASEAN Summit significantly contributed to promoting solidarityand cooperation, and restoring ASEAN's image, especially orienting ASEAN's cooperation and development in the following years to realise the group’s Vision 2020.
Vietnam successfully completed its role as Chairman of the 34th ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) and the ASEAN RegionalForum (ARF), and successfully hosted important conferences,forums and dialogues.
With Vietnam’s efforts, ASEAN and the ASEAN Regional Forum have achievedimportant results and continued to develop in the right direction in line with theinterests of each ASEAN country and the common interests of the entire region.
The role and responsibility of Vietnam were clearlydemonstrated through its successful undertaking of ASEAN Chair in 2010 – the important period for the processof building the ASEAN Community as this was seen as a pivotal year in theremaining five years for ASEAN to fulfill its goal to build the Community, andthe year ASEAN began to officially stabilise its operation as an apparatus inline with the legal framework regulated by the ASEAN Charter.
Vietnam and other ASEAN member nations set a cross-cutting priority forASEAN cooperation in this period to accelerate actions in order to realise thegoal of forming the ASEAN Community. The successful completion of the ASEAN Chair2010 helped enhance Vietnam's international role and position and promote theimage of a reformed and dynamic Vietnam with an independent and self-reliantforeign policy.
With its two positions, Vietnam helped to push forwards theestablishment of the ASEAN Community in 2015, thus enhancing the bloc'sinternational role and position.
Vietnam has contributed to the formation, consolidation and development ofASEAN-established and led institutions, and promoting the bloc’s externalrelations by deciding to expand the East Asia Summit (EAS) to admit the USand Russia.
It hosted the first ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM ) and lobbied to representASEAN at the G-20 Summits in the Republic of Korea and Canada.
The country also proposed a series of initiatives and programmes such as "ASEANVision 2020 and Implementation Plan", “Declaration of ASEAN Concord II”, "ASEAN Charter", “2009-2015 Roadmapfor ASEAN Community”, “ASEAN IntegrationInitiative,” and “Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity”.
In recent years, Vietnam has beenevaluated as a dynamic, responsible and prominent member with its important contributionto maintaining unity, peace and security in the ASEAN region.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minhsaid that Vietnam has actively prepared for its role as the ASEAN Chair 2020 fromthe end of 2018, with the hope to lay next bricks for building a strong ASEANCommunity.
"Since joining the "regional boat” of ASEAN in 1995, Vietnam has joined hands with other member countries in rowing the boat through many difficulties, and strugglingwith fierce eddies of the “global ocean", he said.
Vietnam’s persistent efforts have contributed to building solidarity and unity withinASEAN, helping the bloc overcome difficult and challenging times, he stressed,noting that taking the role of the ASEAN Chair on the occasion of the 25thanniversary of its accession, Vietnam has many advantages but will also facemany difficulties and challenges.
Promoting ASEAN to grow strongly and sustainably will be a practicalcontribution of Vietnam to the Community, he added.
With the ASEAN Year 2020 themed 'Cohesive and Responsive', Vietnam wants toassert that solidarity is a decisive factor for the sustainability of ASEAN.
In the context that the COVID-19 pandemicseemed impossible for all programmes, Vietnam has promptly organised meetingsin the form of video conferencing to ensure uninterrupted and smooth ASEANactivities. Vietnam has not only effectively contained the domestic spread ofthe disease, but also raised the spirit of international cooperation and mutualassistance in the most urgent and difficult times.
Dr. Balaz Szanto from Webster Thailand stressed that Vietnam is an importantmember and plays a key role in ASEAN.
Vietnam's ASEAN leadership will have distinct effects on important issues,including promoting the settlement of territorial disputes at sea, as well asother issues, in the ASEAN agenda, he noted.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister of Laos ThongphaneSavanphet said Vietnam is doing well its role as the ASEAN Chair 2020,especially in leading the bloc to overcome the difficulties and challenges amidthe COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam has take the role as ASEAN chair since January2020, the time when the COVID-19 was spreading globally.
Fully aware of its responsibilities, Vietnam has been responsive andflexible to together with other ASEAN member states fight the pandemic, saidDeputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, who is also head of Vietnam ASEAN SOM(Senior Officials’ Meeting).
Vietnam has quickly seen the need to temporarily shift the focus of ASEANcooperation to response to COVID-19 and viewed it as ASEAN’s top priority inthe current context, Dung said.
Since the COVID-19 broke out, the country has played an active role inleading and coordinating ASEAN’s concerted efforts and cooperation withpartners to contain the spread of the coronavirus and minimise itssocio-economic impacts.
Against the backdrop of the disease uncertainty, Vietnam released aChairman’s Statement on ASEAN Collective Response to the Outbreak of COVID-19on February 14, putting out an alert for the disease and showing itsdetermination to foster regional and international cooperation in response tothe virus. It has also held a series of teleconferences with ASEAN partners –China, the EU and the US – as well as international organisations to discussways to soon bring the epidemic under control.
“The common denominator of shared interest, which has brought the ASEANmembers together over the last five decades, has multiplied in the wake ofadversity and challenges,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in his remarks at theopening ceremony of the 36th ASEAN Summit held virtually in June. “The COVID-19pandemic is a test of ASEAN's mettle as a maturing community.”
PM Phuc said he is deeply confident that “after every storm and typhoon, thestalks of paddy rice on the logo of ASEAN will grow tighter-knit, and from itmore grains of rice will spring forth, filled with the love, care andsolidarity that define our big ASEAN family.”
In March, the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC)’s Working Group on PublicHealth Emergencies was set up as a proposal by Vietnam, as the Chair of ASEAN2020, with a view to forge collaboration among ASEAN countries to cope with COVID-19.
Vietnam has also proposed various other initiatives to strengthen ASEAN’sjoint efforts in dealing with the pandemic, such as the establishment of aregional reserve of medical supplies, a shared set of standard operatingprocedures for responding to public health emergencies, the COVID-19 ASEANResponse Fund, and a regional task force against fake news.
The country has also organised an online table-top exercise on COVID-19response among regional military medical forces in May.
Vietnam is an invaluable member of the ASEAN Community and has activelyshepherded a number of important initiatives and led efforts that continue toenrich the ASEAN agenda and experience, Permanent Representative of thePhilippines to ASEAN Ambassador Noel Servigon told the Vietnam News Agency'sreporter in Jakarta.
Vietnam’s remarkable success in containing the pandemic has served as amodel not only in ASEAN but throughout the world, Servigon said. “Ourconcerted efforts this year will help ensure that all member states emergestronger and better equipped to respond and recover from future pandemics”./.
"Since joining the "regional boat” of ASEAN in 1995, Vietnam has joined hands with other member countries in rowing the boat through many difficulties, and strugglingwith fierce eddies of the “global ocean", he said.
Vietnam’s persistent efforts have contributed to building solidarity and unity withinASEAN, helping the bloc overcome difficult and challenging times, he stressed,noting that taking the role of the ASEAN Chair on the occasion of the 25thanniversary of its accession, Vietnam has many advantages but will also facemany difficulties and challenges.
Promoting ASEAN to grow strongly and sustainably will be a practicalcontribution of Vietnam to the Community, he added.
With the ASEAN Year 2020 themed 'Cohesive and Responsive', Vietnam wants toassert that solidarity is a decisive factor for the sustainability of ASEAN.
In the context that the COVID-19 pandemicseemed impossible for all programmes, Vietnam has promptly organised meetingsin the form of video conferencing to ensure uninterrupted and smooth ASEANactivities. Vietnam has not only effectively contained the domestic spread ofthe disease, but also raised the spirit of international cooperation and mutualassistance in the most urgent and difficult times.
Dr. Balaz Szanto from Webster Thailand stressed that Vietnam is an importantmember and plays a key role in ASEAN.
Vietnam's ASEAN leadership will have distinct effects on important issues,including promoting the settlement of territorial disputes at sea, as well asother issues, in the ASEAN agenda, he noted.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister of Laos ThongphaneSavanphet said Vietnam is doing well its role as the ASEAN Chair 2020,especially in leading the bloc to overcome the difficulties and challenges amidthe COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam has take the role as ASEAN chair since January2020, the time when the COVID-19 was spreading globally.
Fully aware of its responsibilities, Vietnam has been responsive andflexible to together with other ASEAN member states fight the pandemic, saidDeputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, who is also head of Vietnam ASEAN SOM(Senior Officials’ Meeting).
Vietnam has quickly seen the need to temporarily shift the focus of ASEANcooperation to response to COVID-19 and viewed it as ASEAN’s top priority inthe current context, Dung said.
Since the COVID-19 broke out, the country has played an active role inleading and coordinating ASEAN’s concerted efforts and cooperation withpartners to contain the spread of the coronavirus and minimise itssocio-economic impacts.
Against the backdrop of the disease uncertainty, Vietnam released aChairman’s Statement on ASEAN Collective Response to the Outbreak of COVID-19on February 14, putting out an alert for the disease and showing itsdetermination to foster regional and international cooperation in response tothe virus. It has also held a series of teleconferences with ASEAN partners –China, the EU and the US – as well as international organisations to discussways to soon bring the epidemic under control.
“The common denominator of shared interest, which has brought the ASEANmembers together over the last five decades, has multiplied in the wake ofadversity and challenges,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in his remarks at theopening ceremony of the 36th ASEAN Summit held virtually in June. “The COVID-19pandemic is a test of ASEAN's mettle as a maturing community.”
PM Phuc said he is deeply confident that “after every storm and typhoon, thestalks of paddy rice on the logo of ASEAN will grow tighter-knit, and from itmore grains of rice will spring forth, filled with the love, care andsolidarity that define our big ASEAN family.”
In March, the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC)’s Working Group on PublicHealth Emergencies was set up as a proposal by Vietnam, as the Chair of ASEAN2020, with a view to forge collaboration among ASEAN countries to cope with COVID-19.
Vietnam has also proposed various other initiatives to strengthen ASEAN’sjoint efforts in dealing with the pandemic, such as the establishment of aregional reserve of medical supplies, a shared set of standard operatingprocedures for responding to public health emergencies, the COVID-19 ASEANResponse Fund, and a regional task force against fake news.
The country has also organised an online table-top exercise on COVID-19response among regional military medical forces in May.
Vietnam is an invaluable member of the ASEAN Community and has activelyshepherded a number of important initiatives and led efforts that continue toenrich the ASEAN agenda and experience, Permanent Representative of thePhilippines to ASEAN Ambassador Noel Servigon told the Vietnam News Agency'sreporter in Jakarta.
Vietnam’s remarkable success in containing the pandemic has served as amodel not only in ASEAN but throughout the world, Servigon said. “Ourconcerted efforts this year will help ensure that all member states emergestronger and better equipped to respond and recover from future pandemics”./.
VNA
