ASEAN enhances connectivity, resilience over 57-year history

Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang and youth representatives from various countries at the art programme celebrating the ASEAN – Japan Festival on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of ASEAN – Japan cooperation (1973 – 2023). — VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Giang

HÀ NỘI — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), established on August 8, 1967, currently consists of 10 members, and Việt Nam has made its mark on the development of the bloc over the past decades.

The association comprises Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Việt Nam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Timor-Leste is in the progress of admission into the bloc as an official member.

From the initial population of about 260 million, ASEAN is now home to more than 650 million people and a highly potential market. It is forecast to become the world’s fourth largest economy by 2050. The association is about to enter a new development stage after completing the realisation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025.

Since officially engaging in ASEAN on July 28, 1995, regardless of serving as a member or performing important tasks of the bloc, Việt Nam has always played a core and leading role to significantly contribute to the development of ASEAN.

As a proactive, active, and responsible member, the country has joined hands with other members to make practical contributions to the building of a strong ASEAN Community, the maintenance of ASEAN’s solidarity and unity, and the promotion of the bloc’s centrality for the sake of regional peace, stability, cooperation, and development.

The policy on participating in the ASEAN cooperation forms an important part of Việt Nam’s foreign policy in the new period and also a strategic focus of the country’s multilateral diplomacy.

Outstanding contributions include the three times Việt Nam acted as Chair of ASEAN – in 1998, 2010, and 2020.

In December 1998, just three years after becoming an official member, it successfully organised the 6th ASEAN Summit, where the Hà Nội Plan of Action was adopted, greatly helping strengthen solidarity, promote cooperation, and outline an orientation for the association’s development and cooperation to carry out the ASEAN Vision 2020.

As Chair of ASEAN in 2010, with the aim of stepping up the translation of the ASEAN Vision into action, Việt Nam’s chairmanship was marked with such important decisions as adopting the first Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC 2015), expanding the East Asia Summit (EAS) mechanism to Russia and the US, and forming a defence cooperation framework between ASEAN and partners – the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+).

Holding the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020, Việt Nam promoted the ASEAN Community’s cohesiveness and responsiveness in response to unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby sustaining the bloc’s solidarity and trend of connectivity, assisting people to stabilise their life, and augmenting recovery efforts. The initiatives proposed by Vietnam in such a challenging context, including teleconferencing, have continued to be boosted by other members, contributing to ASEAN’s responsiveness and resilience and also accelerating post-pandemic recovery in the region.

Aside from fulfilling the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, Việt Nam has considerably contributed to the making of decisions about the association’s development orientation such as the fulfillment of the ASEAN-10 idea; the adoption of the Hà Nội Plan of Action in 1998, the ASEAN Vision 2020 in 1997, the Declaration of ASEAN Concord on the building of the ASEAN Community in 2003, the ASEAN Charter in 2007, and the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 in 2015; along with the ongoing building of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045.

In particular, as the bloc is preparing to herald a new development stage, at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia in September 2023, Việt Nam proposed an initiative to host the ASEAN Future Forum as a supplement to the official forums and mechanisms of the association, creating a chance for broad exchanges of ideas and initiatives on regional cooperation to help create a resilient and sustainable ASEAN Community.

The ASEAN Future Forum 2024 took place in Hà Nội on April 23, attracting nearly 400 delegates. It was one of the most important multilateral diplomatic events of Việt Nam this year, thus demonstrating the country’s active contributions to regional cooperation, the promotion of ASEAN’s centrality, and the placement of people at the centre of every decision and policy.

In addition, Việt Nam has served as a coordinator for the bloc’s relations with many important partners, including China, the US, Russia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, helping foster substantive and productive cooperation. It is going to act as a coordinator for ASEAN’s relations with New Zealand and the UK for three years, after July 2024.

Experts and scholars shared the view that for the last nearly 30 years, Việt Nam has undeniably proved that its ASEAN membership has created a new impetus for not only itself but also the 57-year-old bloc. — VNS