Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem spoke to the press after the closing ceremony of the 15th ASEAN Summit, during which Vietnam declared to assume the rotating Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from January 1 to December 12, 2010.
“To undertake the mission, Vietnam has actively made preparations from early this year,” Mr Khiem said.
Vietnam has set up the National Committee for ASEAN 2010 with the involvement of senior officials of ministries, branches and localities. The Committee and its sub-committees have to date completed all preparations and they are accelerating detailed tasks for the country’s assumption of the bloc’s rotating chairmanship from early next year.
Vietnam chose “Toward the ASEAN Community: From Vision to Action” as the theme for ASEAN 2010. This theme shows that ASEAN goals should be achieved by taking concrete action, reflecting the demand and substance of ASEAN cooperation in the coming time and Vietnam’s desire to turn ASEAN commitments into concrete deeds and fulfill the goal of building the ASEAN Community by 2015.
The logo of ASEAN year under Vietnam’s chair manifests ASEAN’s solidarity and connectivity as well as its activeness and role in the region.
The official website for ASEAN 2010 will serve as an official information source, a door to welcome international friends to Vietnam.
“I believe that Vietnam, with its activeness and high responsibility as well as its full preparations, will successfully undertake its duties as ASEAN Chair,’ he said.
The 15th ASEAN Summit and related summits ended on October 25 in Cha-am Hua Hin, Thailand.
Deputy PM Khiem said that participating leaders to the three-day meetings affirmed their strong determination and set forth measures to boost cooperation among ASEAN members and between ASEAN and its partners, in order to increase regional links and respond to global challenges such as financial-economic crisis, food and energy security, climate change, natural disasters and diseases.
Khiem said the Vietnamese delegation, led by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, has made active and effective contributions to the success of the meetings, helping strengthen ASEAN solidarity and connectivity as well as cooperation between ASEAN and its partners.
Vietnam has actively discussed with other ASEAN countries on preparations for its assumption of the bloc’s rotating chairmanship in 2010, he added.
At the 15th ASEAN Summit, Vietnam has urged ASEAN to take urgent actions and focus all resources to continue bringing its Charter into reality, implement agreements on building an ASEAN Community and narrow the development gap among regional nations through the effective implementation of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) and developing the Mekong sub-region.
Vietnam stressed the importance of speeding up the ASEAN connectivity, especially in economics, trade, investment and transport infrastructure, as well as strengthening cultural and tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, thus creating community consciousness and a regional identity, said the Deputy PM.
The country has also made specific contributions to accelerating the implementation of committed agreements between ASEAN and its partners, he added.
Vietnam, as a coordinator of the ASEAN-China dialogue relationship between 2009 and 2012, has actively proposed steps to implement agreements between ASEAN and China, including agreements on establishing the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), helping lift the ASEAN-China strategic partnership to a new high.
On the occasion, the two sides officially signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of the ASEAN-China Centre.