Vietnam and its important contributions at the 30th ASEAN Summit

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung gave an interview about the 30th ASEAN Summit and related activities.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung.

PV: Could you please tell us about the outstanding contents and results of the 30th ASEAN Summit?

Deputy Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung: The 30th ASEAN Summit took place in the context of many complicated developments in the world, especially the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula and the emergence of non-traditional security challenges.

This year, ASEAN enters its second year after the establishment of the Community and also marks its 50th anniversary. In that context, ASEAN Leaders focused on discussing three main topics: building the ASEAN Community; ASEAN's external relations; and the world and regional situation.

Regarding community building, in addition to recognizing and appreciating the results achieved in implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the Master Plans on all three pillars, the Leaders pointed out the aspects that need to be overcome and further promoted in building the Community, including: first, people's awareness of the ASEAN Community is still low; second, coordination between agencies of the three different pillars in handling inter-sectoral and inter-sectoral issues is still weak; third, economic cooperation within the bloc has not achieved the desired results, for example, the intra-bloc trade rate is still low, on the contrary, non-tariff barriers have appeared.

From there, the Leaders have set new requirements for the Ministers, Senior Officials and ASEAN agencies, specifically: it is necessary to prioritize building an ASEAN Community towards the people, for the people, meeting the needs of all classes of people so that people can enjoy the benefits brought by the community; creating favorable conditions to support businesses, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to develop; removing trade barriers, by all means promoting intra-ASEAN trade.

ASEAN Leaders also saw that ASEAN needs to strengthen coordination in responding to non-traditional security issues such as terrorism, anti-piracy, climate change or drug issues...

To promote cooperation in the field of public administration, ASEAN Leaders signed the ASEAN Declaration on the Role of the Civil Service as a Catalyst in Achieving the ASEAN Community Vision 2025; emphasizing the role and contribution of the civil service in achieving the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and providing specific measures to enhance cooperation in the civil service in ASEAN.

Regarding foreign relations, this year has many important activities with a series of major anniversaries such as 40 years of ASEAN relations with the United States, EU, Canada, 25 years with India and 20 years of ASEAN+3 cooperation (3 Northeast Asian countries).

ASEAN is also receiving attention and proposals to establish official relations from many countries, regional and international organizations. ASEAN Leaders have directed that this occasion should be used to further strengthen multifaceted relations with partners, enhance ASEAN's attractiveness, attract and gain support for the process of building the ASEAN Community as well as encourage partners to participate and actively contribute to regional cooperation, for peace, stability, cooperation and common prosperity.

The Leaders also emphasized the importance of solidarity and ASEAN's central role in the evolving regional structure; considering this a decisive factor to maintain and promote ASEAN's role in the region and reach out to the world.

Regarding the international and regional situation, the countries emphasized that in the current complicated international and regional context, ASEAN needs to have a strong common voice, promote an active role and make practical contributions to peace, security and stability in the region and the world in general. The Leaders welcomed the timely issuance of the Joint Statement by ASEAN Foreign Ministers on hot issues such as terrorist attacks in Europe and tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Regarding the East Sea, this is an issue that most Leaders and Ministers mentioned in their speeches, expressing concern about current developments on the ground in the East Sea, including manifestations of militarization. All countries affirmed ASEAN's common stance, promoting the settlement of disputes by peaceful means; seriously and fully implementing the DOC Declaration and promoting the early completion of the COC framework with the goal of achieving a substantive, effective and international law-compliant code of conduct in the East Sea, contributing to maintaining security, stability and turning the East Sea into a sea of ​​peace and cooperation.

With the above results, the 30th ASEAN Summit, the first Summit in the Philippines' 2017 ASEAN Chairmanship, is of great significance, clearly defining ASEAN's priorities, tasks and activities this year, the "golden anniversary" year of ASEAN.

PV: Could you please tell us about the participation and contribution of the Vietnamese delegation at the 30th ASEAN Summit?

Deputy Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung: With the motto of "proactive, positive and responsible", the Vietnamese delegation led by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attending the Conference made important contributions to the overall success of the Conference.

Firstly, right from the preparation stage of the Conference, Vietnam has been very proactive in coordinating with the Philippines and other ASEAN countries to participate in concretizing the priority topics for ASEAN 2017 proposed by the Philippines, the chair country.

Second, we have actively participated in the development of ASEAN's common documents as well as the contents discussed at the 30th ASEAN Summit, performed well the role of Chair of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Task Force and coordinated the ASEAN-India dialogue relations in the context of the two sides looking forward to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of dialogue relations.

Third, in all the topics discussed and approved at the Conference, Vietnam contributed opinions on the basis of upholding ASEAN solidarity, promoting the building of a strong ASEAN Community, complying with international law and harmoniously combining national interests with the common interests of ASEAN, for peace, security, stability and prosperity of the region.

At the Conference, to build a strong ASEAN Community, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized three points.

The first is to give top priority to meeting the interests of the people, taking the people as the center. In particular, the Prime Minister emphasized the important role of businesses, affirming the need to actively support to help businesses in ASEAN develop better. At the same time, ASEAN needs to strengthen propaganda and dissemination work so that people can better understand the ASEAN Community and take advantage of the benefits that the community brings.

Second, the Prime Minister prioritized ASEAN's reform, continued to implement measures to improve the organization and operation methods towards streamlining the number, increasing the effectiveness of meetings, improving the operational efficiency of the ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN agencies, and increasing connectivity between the community pillars.

Third, the Prime Minister highlighted the focus of intra-bloc cooperation and regional connectivity, with a focus on strengthening cooperation within ASEAN to consolidate internal strength, increase ASEAN's attractiveness, and create a solid foundation for expanding cooperation and attracting external investment.

Among other issues, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc discussed issues to address non-traditional security challenges, especially climate change and piracy. He also expressed concern over the rising tensions in the Korean Peninsula, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and stressed the need for ASEAN to uphold basic principles and a common stance on resolving disputes by peaceful means and on the basis of international law.

PV: Could you please tell us about the bilateral contacts of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the occasion of attending the 30th ASEAN Summit and the results of these contacts?

Deputy Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung: On the occasion of attending the 30th ASEAN Summit, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had bilateral meetings with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Brunei Darussalam Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. At the meetings, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had frank discussions on issues that need to promote cooperation between Vietnam and these countries as well as proposed measures to remove major remaining obstacles.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, Head of the Myanmar delegation to the 30th ASEAN Summit.

With Malaysia, the two Prime Ministers agreed to strive to bring bilateral trade turnover to 20 billion USD by 2020 and strengthen cooperation between the two countries' militaries in fighting piracy to ensure maritime safety in the region.

Responding to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's request, the Malaysian Prime Minister promised to promote cooperation with Vietnam in the field of food processing for Muslims, consider increasing Vietnamese workers in areas where Malaysia has demand, and encourage Malaysian businesses to invest in Vietnam. The Malaysian Prime Minister stated that he would ensure that the prosecution and trial of Doan Thi Huong would be fair and that Doan Thi Huong's legal rights would be guaranteed.

With Myanmar, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi emphasized the need to continue negotiations to promote the signing of cooperation agreements in areas with great potential for cooperation such as trade, investment, transportation, finance, justice, education, telecommunications, and especially agriculture and defense. The Myanmar side agreed to continue creating favorable conditions for business and investment activities of Vietnamese enterprises in Myanmar.

During a meeting with Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked Brunei to promote investment in the Vietnamese market, especially in the fields of infrastructure, energy, food processing for export, oil and gas exploitation and other areas with great potential for cooperation.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked Brunei to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to invest in the fields of oil and gas, oil and gas services, halal food products and agricultural products in Brunei. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also suggested that the two sides consider promoting joint fishing cooperation in Brunei's waters in accordance with local laws.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand agreed on the need to balance trade and promote investment cooperation, increase propaganda and coordinate advance warnings to reduce the number of fishing vessels of the two countries violating each other's territorial waters. On this occasion, the Prime Minister of Thailand respectfully invited Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to pay an official visit to Thailand and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc happily accepted.

Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte affirmed that he highly values ​​his friendship with Vietnam; he welcomed President Tran Dai Quang to pay an official visit to the Philippines in 2017. Responding to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's request, President Duterte thanked Vietnam for its willingness to provide stable and long-term rice to the Philippines.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc invited President Duterte to attend the APEC Summit 2017 and, as ASEAN Chair, continue to coordinate and support Vietnam's initiatives proposed during APEC Vietnam 2017./.

According to VOV