Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (centre) speaks at an event as part of the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-55) and related meetings in Phnom Penh. (Photo: VNA)The event took place as partof the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-55) and relatedmeetings in the capital city of Cambodia. It draw the participation of foreign ministers from ASEAN member states and EAS partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic ofKorea, Australia, New Zealand, India, Russia, and the US.
Participants affirmed thespecialness of the EAS, a forum established by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for regional leaders todiscuss strategic issues, thus creating prerequisites for regional cooperation toovercome uncertainties and complexities for common peace, security, andprosperity in the region.
They held that to carry outthe decisions made at the 16th EAS in November 2021, countries needto concurrently boost sustainable recovery and development while improvingtheir healthcare capacity and resilience to future disease outbreaks.
A main task for the EAS countriesnow is to reopen their borders, resume trading, facilitate investment, andpromote connectivity, they said, agreeing to enhance partnerships in innovation,digital transformation, energy, climate change response, and green andsustainable growth.
Sharing concerns overemerging complex developments in the East Sea, Myanmar, the Korean Peninsula,Ukraine, and the Taiwan Strait, the ministers affirmed the EAS’s strategicvalue of creating a favourable environment for straightforward dialogue, closeconsultation, and sincere cooperation for a region of peace, stability, andsustainable development.
In his remarks, Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son reaffirmedASEAN’s principled stance on international issues.
He called on countries tohelp turn the East Sea into a sea of peace and stability, safety andsecurity, and openness and freedom, adding that all disputes must be resolvedby peaceful means on the basis of international law and the 1982 United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Vietnam pledged to join otherASEAN members and China to seriously and fully implement the Declaration on theConduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and strive to soon finalise anefficient and effective Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea that is in line with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS, he emphasised.
Regarding recent developmentsin the region, the minister repeated ASEAN and Vietnam’s stance that supportsthe “One China” policy. He called on the parties concerned to exerciseself-restraint, avoid complicating the situation, peacefully resolvedisagreements and disputes, and adhere to international law, the UN Charter,and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
Son noted ASEAN will maintainits engagement with Myanmar, and that the ASEAN Chair’s special envoy willstrive to access and help to fully implement the Five-Point Consensus amongASEAN leaders.
At a meeting with Sri LankaForeign Minister M.U.M. Ali Sabry, the Vietnamese minister highly valued thetwo countries’ traditional friendship and asked both sides to maintain contact,increase consultation, effectively carry out cooperation mechanisms, and soonorganise the fourth session of the Joint Committee on Economic, Scientific andTechnical Cooperation.
Sabry agreed toraise annual bilateral trade to 500 million USD and encourage Vietnamesebusinesses to conduct trading through his country’s seaports.
The two officials agreed tobolster ties in other spheres like tourism, agriculture, education, andpeople-to-people exchange. They also discussed orientations for mutual supportat international forums, especially the UN./.
VNA
