PM attends plenary meeting of 35th ASEAN summit

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc

The countries reviewed the results of the implementation of the priorities under the theme of promoting the partnership for sustainability. They spoke highly of the progressed gained in the building of the ASEAN Community and stressed that the bloc needs to maintain its role and significance as the core force in increasing peace, stability, dialogue and cooperation in the region.

The participants also agreed to continue broadening and deepening the relationship between ASEAN and its partners, accelerating the sustainable development of ASEAN in line with the objectives of the United Nations’ agenda 2030 on sustainable development goals.

PM Phuc highlighted the solidarity and consensus of ASEAN and stressed the importance of building regional architecture that is open, transparent and working on the basis of law. He asked the ASEAN countries to bring the solidarity into play in supporting Vietnam to accomplish the tasks of the ASEAN Chair in 2020, building an ASEAN Community of sustainable development, with intensive and extensive relations with the partners.

He highlighted that, in the complicated regional and world situation with advantages and challenges existing together, the countries need to have a common voice, build a regional structure which is open, transparent and based on the law, and make effective contributions to peace and stability in the region and the world over. On the basis of the achievements recorded, Vietnam will further bring into play the theme of sustainable development and consolidate the solidarity among the members.

Regarding the East Sea issue, PM Phuc stressed that the prerequisite to achieve peace and stability is to maintain an order that respects the international law. In the recent past, there were serious violations of the international law in the sea of the region and Vietnam. They just came to an end but have left profound lessons for ASEAN and this sheds more light on the fact that security and stability in the East Sea now is very fragile and requires serious pledges and responsibility from all the countries in the region to ensure that similar incidents will not be repeated. Vietnam is determined and persistent in protecting the international law in the international relations in general and in the East Sea issues in particular.

In that context, the leader affirmed that ASEAN has maintained solidarity and unity, manifested through the stance raised at the 52nd foreign ministerial meeting, upholding the importance of peace, stability, respect to the international law, ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation, stressing restraint from acts that complicate the situation, fully implementing the Declaration on the Conducts of the parties in the East Sea (DOC) and building the Code of Conducts in the East Sea (COC). He also expressed Vietnam’s desire to build the East Sea into a sea of peace, stability and sustainable development.

On the same day, PM Phuc had separate meetings with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

At the meeting with the UN leader, PM Phuc affirmed that Vietnam supports multilateralism and is determined to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030 and the Paris treaty on coping with climate change, and also supports his efforts in the reform of the UN development system.

For his part, the UN chief said Vietnam is a vanguard in many fields, speaking highly of the country’s effective participation, and hoped Vietnam will make more active contributions to the UN’s peacekeeping efforts.

The two agreed to intensify cooperation and connection activities between the ASEAN and the UN during Vietnam’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2020 and its term of a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2020-2021. On the East Sea situation, they shared the viewpoint on the need to ensure peace, stability, freedom and security of navigation and aviation, reaching the COC at an early date in the spirit of ensuring respect for the international law and the UNCLOS 1982. PM Phuc invited Guterres to visit Vietnam on the occasion of the ASEAN Summit in 2020, and the invitation was accepted.

At the meeting with the Thai PM in the evening of November 2, PM Phuc expressed his belief that his Thai counterpart will lead the country to achieve sustainable development and successfully accomplish the role as the ASEAN Chair for 2019. He expressed his hope that the two countries will closely coordinate to boost the bilateral strategic partnership, and asked the Thai leader to facilitate the distribution of Vietnamese goods in the Thai market and to support the lives of people of Vietnamese origin in Thailand.

The Thai leader proposed that the two countries intensify their coordination in dealing with issues that have common impacts on ASEAN, and agreed to look for ways to improve the scale of trade revenue and investment.

The two leaders agreed to boost close coordination towards achieving the common goals of building the ASEAN Community, strengthening the central role of the ASEAN, promoting the relationship with the partners, and dealing with security issues in the region, including the East Sea issue.

The same day, PM Phuc attended the signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding between ASEAN and FIFA.