Vietnam border, seas, islands

Hanoi, November 5 (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc returned to Hanoi on November 5, successfully concluding his trip to the 35th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Thailand.

From November 2-4, the PM attended and addressed 11 conferences and meetings, and met with 19 partners, including the UN General Secretary, the Prime Ministers of Laos, Cambodia, China, Thailand, Japan, India and New Zealand, the US national security advisor, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and the UK Prince.

At the ASEAN Chairmanship hand-over ceremony on November 4 night, PM Phuc received the chairmanship hammer from his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha and announced the topic as well as major orientations proposed by Vietnam for the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020.

In his remarks at the 35th ASEAN Summit, the leader stressed that peace and stability must be the common goal, dialogue and cooperation the main tool, and people the centre of all policies.

The prerequisite to ensure peace and stability is maintaining an order under which behaviours of each country and relations comply with international law, he said.

The PM also emphasised the need to increase cohesiveness between member countries to maintain the long-term sustainability of the 10-member grouping, pay more attention to the implementation of economic agreements, remove obstacles to trade and investment, and encourage and support ASEAN businesspeople and investors to exploit the regional market.

Besides, ASEAN economies and businesses should be equipped with the capacity to optimise opportunities and deal with challenges generated by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he said.

At the plenary session and related meetings, PM Phuc affirmed Vietnam’s viewpoints on the East Sea issue.

Vietnam resolutely and persistently protects international law in international relations and the East Sea issue in particular, he said, suggesting ASEAN work harder to promote the respect for international law, ensure security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation, fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and constructively build a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).

The leader called for joint efforts in the new cooperation spirit of respecting law and building an East Sea of peace, cooperation and prosperous development.

He raised proposals and contributed opinions on many documents and agreements adopted at the summit, including the ASEAN Plus  Three Leaders’ Statement on Connecting the Connectivities Initiative, the ASEAN-China Leaders’ Statement on Smart City Cooperation Initiative, the Joint Statement on Strengthening Media Exchanges and Cooperation Between ASEAN and China, the ASEAN-China Joint Statement on Synergising the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), among others.

Addressing the ASEAN Chairmanship hand-over ceremony, PM Phuc said Vietnam has chosen “Cohesive and Responsive” as the theme for the ASEAN Year 2020, explaining that the intra-bloc cohesiveness would increase the grouping’s adaptability to external impact.

He called for support of other ASEAN member countries and partners to materialise the theme.

On this occasion, PM Phuc had bilateral meetings with delegation heads and leaders of other ASEAN countries to discuss measures and orientations to strengthen bilateral ties and settle specific issues.

On the sidelines of the summit, he attended some business cooperation events between Vietnamese and Thai partners.

The PM’s trip has contributed to tightening and boosting solidarity within ASEAN, promoting the grouping’s central role, expanding and deepening its relations with partners, creating a favourable condition for sustainable development in each country and the region, and advancing the image of Vietnam that has played an active role in regional cooperation./.