Secretary General of the ASEAN-Korea Centre Lee Hyuk (Photo: VNA)Seoul (VNA) - Vietnam hasbeen effectively performing its role as ASEAN Chair in terms of enhancing thebloc’s unanimity and cooperating with other members in the COVID-19 response,according to the Secretary General of the ASEAN-Korea Centre Lee Hyuk.
In a recent interview with the Vietnam NewsAgency, Lee, who is also a former Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (RoK) toVietnam, said that since the beginning of this year Vietnam has been exerting everyeffort to promote a cohesive and responsive ASEAN.
Since the coronavirus first broke out, he wenton, the country emphasised the importance of solidarity in the bloc toconcurrently overcome the health crisis and recover the economy, noting that lastmonth Vietnam chaired the 36th ASEAN Summit, during which regional leadersaffirmed their resolve, political will, and solidarity to weather any and all difficulties.
ASEAN has a great deal of experience in cooperatingto overcome crises, he explained. For example, when the 1997 financial crisis struckthe region, ASEAN and the three northeast Asian countries - the RoK, Japan, andChina - created the ASEAN Plus Three mechanism.
Lee expressed his belief that under Vietnam’sguidance, the bloc will once again emerge victorious from the difficulties of today.The country has the necessary conditions to guide such efforts and minimise thespread of COVID-19, recover economies, and enhance the region’s competitivenessin the post-pandemic period.
He added that its efforts to promotemultilateralism in the region via ASEAN-created platforms will greatly help to bolstermutual trust and regional cooperation.
In discussing RoK-Vietnam relations, theSecretary General said Vietnam is the most important ASEAN partner for his homecountry and bilateral ties have been developing strongly in all regards for manyyears.
Two-way trade reached 70 billion USD last year -nearly 40 percent of the RoK’s total trade with all of ASEAN. Its investment inVietnam stands at 4.5 billion USD, putting it among the largest of foreigninvestors.
Growth in economic links has led to strongerpeople-to-people exchanges, he said, noting that about 4 million RoK people visitedVietnam in 2019 and that there are over 180,000 Koreans living in Vietnam atpresent, with a similar number of Vietnamese living in the RoK./.
VNA
