The Vietnamese delegation led by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung returned to Hanoi on November 22 after attending the 13th ASEAN summit and related conferences in Singapore. The delegation has made a significant contribution to these summits to accelerate the building of an ASEAN community by 2015.

PM Dung talked about Vietnam’s contribution to these summits during an interview granted to the media. Following is the full text of the interview. 

Reporter: Could you brief us on the results of the 13th ASEAN summits and related conferences, as well as orientations to develop relations between ASEAN and its dialogue partners in the coming time?

Mr Dung: This year, Singapore hosted the 13th ASEAN summit, and seven related summits, namely the ASEAN + 3 summit (ASEAN plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea), ASEAN + 1 summit (between ASEAN plus each of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China), the third East Asia Summit and the ASEAN-EU Summit marking 30 years of their partnership. 

These summits took place at a time when ASEAN and its member states have been celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 10-member bloc with the strong determination to promote the regional integration process and build an ASEAN Community by 2015. On the theme of “One ASEAN at the heart of Dynamic Asia”, ASEAN leaders at their 13th annual summit discussed measures to effectively implement programmes and plans of action to fulfil the target of building of ASEAN Community based on the three pillars: politics-security, economics and socio-cultural affairs on schedule, and to bring into full play the bloc’s key role in cooperation mechanisms in the Asia-Pacific region.

The 13th ASEAN Summits and its related Summits achieved the following results:

First, ASEAN leaders agreed to sign the ASEAN Charter, marking a historical event in its development process, helping turn the bloc into an inter-governmental organisation in the region, which has legally-binding status, promotes regional integration and strengthens solidarity. The signing will constitute a legal and institutional framework for ASEAN’s cooperation in the future. It will not only support the building of the ASEAN Community but also elevate the association’s role and position in relations with its dialogue partners as well as with other processes in the region at present and in the future. On this occasion, ASEAN leaders signed a statement, affirming their political commitment to preparing necessary procedures for the early ratification of the charter to bring it to life. It is worth mentioning that the charter is the result of summing up the bloc’s objectives and fundamental principles as well as its development over the past 40 years, with assistance from the High-Level Task Force (HLTF) and the Eminent Persons Groups (EPG) in charge of drafting the document. 

Second, ASEAN leaders approved the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint and signed a declaration on the AEC Blueprint, affirming their determination to build an economic community with concrete plans and a roadmap. They asked for completing the ASEAN Political and Security Community (APSC) Blueprint and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint soon. Bridging the development gap continues to be an important task, facilitating the integration process of the association.

Third, the summits focused on exchanging global issues such as energy, environment, climate change and sustainable development. They adopted measures to expand cooperation among member states and with their dialogue partners to cope with natural calamities. In this spirit, ASEAN leaders and their dialogue partners signed two declarations on climate change, environmental sustainability and energy.

Fourth, the leaders also spent much time discussing orientations and measures to promote and strengthen multi-faceted cooperation between ASEAN member states and their dialogue partners through implementing partnership agreements effectively. On the occasion, Japan pledged US$300 million to train 300 experts for ASEAN in the field of maritime safety and environment. Japan also provided an additional 500,000 doses of vaccine for bird flu prevention. The Republic of Korea and ASEAN signed an agreement on trade and services and a Memorandum of Understanding to establish an ASEAN-RoK Centre. The RoK also offered US$5 million to the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) and signed an MoU on food hygiene and safety with China.

During the discussions, the leaders of dialogue partners supported ASEAN’s efforts in building the community, bridging the development gap and reducing poverty and highlighted ASEAN’s leading role in the process of regional cooperation. They also agreed to co-ordinate closely to further promote ASEAN’s role at international and regional forums such as ASEM, APEC, and the UN.

Reporter: Could you talk about Vietnam’s contributions to the summit?

PM Dung: With constructive opinions and responsibility, the Vietnamese delegation made active contributions to key works of the summit, boosting solidarity, and basic principles of ASEAN, especially the principles of consensus and non-intervention. Vietnam promoted cooperation among ASEAN member countries, as well as cooperation between the bloc and its dialogue partners towards the building of an ASEAN Community by 2015.

During summits, we stressed the need to implement programmes on narrowing the development gap by building an IAI action plan, establishing a Special Fund and promoting cooperative programmes in order to create favourable conditions for member countries to participate effectively in strengthening regional cooperation.

In the face of issues of global concern such as energy, climate change, environmental protection and sustainable development, Vietnam and other ASEAN members called for support and assistance from dialogue countries in human resource development, facility upgrade and technology transfer.

At the East Asia Summit (EAS), we introduced an initiative to organize the East Asia Environment Ministerial Meeting in Hanoi in 2008 when Vietnam hosts the ASEAN Environment Ministerial Meeting and the ASEAN Plus 3 Environment Ministerial Meeting.

To achieve the above-mentioned goals, apart from contributions to the summit, Vietnam has made thorough preparations for the agenda for the summits and played an active role in the negotiation process for the contents of newly signed documents in Singapore.

The ASEAN Chapter is an important document with consensus by 10 member countries, including the active contribution of Vietnam. During the process, we participated and made many proposals concerning basic principles for the association’s activities and structure. These initiatives were hailed and supported by other ASEAN members. Vietnam’s contributions became an important direction for the compilation process of the Chapter, which can better fulfil urgent requirements in the new era.

I believe that the approval and signing of the ASEAN Chapter will be an important step toward developing ASEAN cooperation to a new height in a closer, more dynamic and effective manner, thus raising Vietnam’s position and prestige both in the regional and international arena.

Reporter: Thank you very much. (VOV)