Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: ASEAN needs to take self-reliance as the foundation to reach new heights
According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, ASEAN needs to take self-reliance as the foundation to reach new heights, take connectivity as the focus to make breakthroughs, and take innovation as the driving force to pioneer and lead.
On the morning of October 9, the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and related conferences were solemnly opened in Vientiane, Laos, with the participation of leaders of ASEAN countries, Timor-Leste and many representatives of partners and international and regional organizations. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh led a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to attend the opening ceremony.
Welcoming the leaders of ASEAN countries and delegates to Vientiane to attend the conference, Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone expressed the pride of Laos in assuming the role of ASEAN Chair for the third time.
According to Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, this ASEAN Summit is an opportunity for all countries to evaluate the results of community building and set out development and cooperation orientations, continue to strengthen relations with partners, consolidate the foundation for the sustainable development of the ASEAN community, and contribute to the goals of peace, security and stability.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Lao General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith expressed his appreciation for the valuable assistance and support of ASEAN family members, friendly countries and partners for Laos during its three tenures as ASEAN Chair since joining ASEAN in 1997.
Throughout its development process, ASEAN, a regional organization with inherent diversity, has overcome many challenges, marking its development with the formation of the Community in 2015. ASEAN is currently home to more than 700 million people, the 3rd largest economy in Asia and the 5th largest in the world, forecast to rise to the 4th position in the world by 2030.
According to Lao General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith, ASEAN's achievements over the past decades have brought great benefits to the people, realized the region's common aspirations and wishes, and strengthened solidarity and unity in diversity.
“These results are also a testament to the success of the ASEAN Way, promoting the region's own identity and characteristics to successfully achieve the goals of peace, stability and sustainable socio-economic development,” General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith emphasized.
Solidarity continues to be a core value of ASEAN
Immediately after the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, together with leaders of ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste, attended the plenary session of the ASEAN Summit, discussing cooperation contents within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its partners.
Speaking at the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his gratitude for the sharing and support of ASEAN countries in overcoming the consequences of super typhoon Yagi in countries, including Vietnam.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that solidarity and mutual love, “one for all, all for one” continue to be the core values and source of strength of ASEAN.
In the context of an increasingly volatile world, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh commented that overall there is peace, but locally there is war; overall there is reconciliation, but locally there is tension; overall there is stability, but locally there is conflict.
“In such a challenging context, ASEAN continues to be a bright spot in the global economy, a bridge of dialogue and cooperation, and the focal point of integration and connectivity processes in the region. Frameworks on digital economy, blue economy, circular economy, etc. are gradually shaping new cooperation content in the region,” said Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Expressing his agreement with the ASEAN 2024 theme of “Promoting Connectivity and Resilience”, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that more than ever, ASEAN needs to take self-reliance as the foundation to reach new heights, take connectivity as the focus to make breakthroughs, and take innovation as the driving force to pioneer and lead.
On that basis, the Prime Minister shared important orientations for ASEAN in the coming time. Specifically, self-reliance and strategic autonomy are the foundation for ASEAN to stand firm in the face of all fluctuations and overcome all challenges.
Accordingly, ASEAN needs to strengthen solidarity and unity in diversity, adhere to standards of conduct and persist in ASEAN's principled stance on international and regional issues.
According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, ASEAN needs to enhance its self-reliance capacity and promote internal resources to maintain internal strategic stability and respond promptly to external risks.
The Prime Minister expressed his belief that Timor Leste's early membership will add more self-reliance to ASEAN and the region.
According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, ASEAN needs to promote investment in high-quality infrastructure projects, especially “hard” and “soft” strategic infrastructure, and encourage the participation of third parties and external partners.
Regarding innovation, according to the Prime Minister, this is the main driving force and driving force for ASEAN to catch up, progress together and surpass the region and the world. Accordingly, ASEAN needs to promote cooperation in developing an innovation ecosystem, developing regional digital cooperation frameworks, along with developing governance criteria for emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.
The Prime Minister emphasized that ASEAN is preparing for a new development phase with new thinking, new vision, new motivation and new attitude.
Wishing to contribute more to regional cooperation, the Prime Minister announced that Vietnam will continue to host the ASEAN Future Forum in 2025 and hopes that countries will continue to pay attention and support Vietnam to successfully organize this event.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam supports and closely coordinates with Malaysia in its role as ASEAN Chair in 2025 to continue achieving new results, marking 10 years of the formation of the ASEAN Community.
