Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung (Photo: VNA)Manila(VNA)– Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung led a Vietnamese delegation to the ASEANSenior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) and related meetings held in Manila, thePhilippines on August 3-4.
At the event, seniorofficials of ASEAN reviewed the implementation of the master plan for thebuilding of the ASEAN Politics-Security Community and documents such as the Treatyof Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia, the Southeast Asian NuclearWeapon Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ), while updating the ASEAN Charter.
They agreed on theneed to exert more efforts to build a community of solidarity and unity withimportant contributions to peace, security and prosperity in the region.
The officials also agreedon the agenda and important documents to be submitted to ministerial meetings, includinga joint statement of the 50thASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-50), anda declaration of the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN.
At the SOM ASEAN andpartners, participants prepared agenda for the ASEAN Post-MinisterialConference with 10 partners, the East Asia Summit, and the ASEAN Plus ThreeMinisterial Meeting, as well as activities to mark the establishment ofrelations between ASEAN and India, Canada, the European Union and the US.
They also completeddocuments to be submitted to the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, including theworking plan for the 2018-2022 period within the ASEAN-Japan, ASEAN-EU andASEAN Plus Three cooperation frameworks.
The officialsconcurred to propose EAS foreign ministers to turn maritime cooperation into apriority for cooperation of the new action programme.
As the coordinator forthe ASEAN-India relations, Vietnam actively contributed to building the themeand documents of the upcoming summit commemorating the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-India ties in January 2018, while speeding up importantcooperation projects and defining the roadmap for the signing of a memorandumof understanding on the formation of the AEAN-India Centre.
On August 4, Deputy FMDung also attended the SEANFWZ Commission Meeting and a meeting withrepresentatives of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights(AICHR).
At the SEANFWZ CommissionMeeting, participants reviewed the progress of the action plan on strengtheningthe implementation of the SEANWFZ in 2013-2017, while agreeing to extend theplan to another five years from 2018-2022 to ensure the continuance of manycooperation activities.
They also discussedmeasures to hasten States owning nuclear weapons to join the treaty.
At the meeting withAICHR representatives, participants lauded the outcomes of the commission’s workingplan for the 2016-2020 period, stressing the comprehensive approach and thepromotion of disciplinary coordination to strengthen the efficiency ofaffiliation in human rights observation in the region, practically contributingto the building of the people-centredASEAN Community.
On the sidelines ofthe meetings, Deputy FM Dung met heads of the Chinese, US, Australian, NewZealand and Philippine delegations.
As scheduled, the 50th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting will open in Manila on August5.-VNA
VNA
