At a press briefing in Hanoi Saturday PM Dung said the outcomes of the 17 th ASEAN Summit and related summits focused on ASEAN community building, ASEAN’s external relations and ASEAN centrality, as well as sustainable development and response to global challenges.

He told the press that at this summit, the leaders reaffirmed their determination to step up concrete actions to realise the goal of building an ASEAN Community.

The leaders agreed to carry out a series of concerted measures to substantially improve the effective and timely implementation of programmes and plans on Community building, especially enhancing the monitoring and assessment mechanisms in accordance with the ASEAN Charter, PM Dung said.

He went on to note on the leaders’ adoption of the master plan on ASEAN Connectivity to enhance physical, institutional and people-to-people connectivity in ASEAN, the ASEAN Declaration on Human Resources and Skills Development for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Growth and the Hanoi Declaration on the Enhancement of Welfare and Development for ASEAN Women and Children.

PM Dung informed the press that on the occasion, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers endorsed the ASEAN Declaration on Cooperation in Search and Rescue of Persons and Vessels in Distress at Sea.

Regarding external relations and ASEAN centrality, PM Dung underlined that the leaders have reached high consensus on the policies and measures to enhance ASEAN’s external relations and ensure the group’s centrality in an evolving regional architecture.

He noted that at these summits, ASEAN’s partners continued to place importance on and wish to further promote comprehensive cooperation with ASEAN as well as support ASEAN’s Community building efforts and its centrality in the region.

ASEAN agreed with its partners on the need to intensify dialogue and cooperation, especially effective implementation of those plans of action to realise the Joint Statement on Strategic or Comprehensive Partnership, PM Dung said.

Apart from the annual summits with China , Japan , the Republic of Korea , and India , ASEAN has this time held summit meetings with other partners such as Australia , New Zealand , Russia , and the United Nations, according to PM Dung.

Besides, ASEAN decided to elevate its dialogue relations with the RoK to strategic partnership and with the US to strategic level, he said, noting the leaders’ decision to expand the East Asia Summit to include Russia and the US , on the basis of respect for ASEAN’s centrality and the agreed principles, objectives and modalities and priorities of the forum.

PM Dung informed that the leaders discussed in-depth ways and means to achieve economic recovery and sustainable development as well as to effectively respond to global challenges such as climate change, natural disasters and pandemic diseases.

He said all countries delivered their strong determination to intensify national efforts as well as regional and international cooperation to deal with these challenges, and push the implementation of the Joint Statement on Recovery and Sustainable Development and the Statement on Joint Responses to Climate Change adopted at the 16 th ASEAN Summit.

On the occasion, the leaders exchanged views on regional and international issues of common concerns, including developments in Myanmar , the East Sea , and the Korean peninsula.

PM Dung also told the press about the Mekong-Japan Summit and the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN’s Lower Mekong Basin and the US Secretary of State which discussed measures on cooperation to develop the Mekong sub-region, especially in infrastructure, environmental protection, water resources conservation and response to climate change.
ASEAN Summit and related summits close

The 17th ASEAN Summit and related summits successfully closed in Hanoi Saturday after three intensive and effective working days.

Delivering the closing speech, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed that building the ASEAN Community is the central and overarching task of the association.

He stated that the 17 th ASEAN Summit made real progress in turning the organisation’s vision into concrete and practical actions.

The association is determined to make greater efforts to effectively implement agreements, especially by strengthening the monitoring and outcome assessment mechanisms as well as resources mobilization in the implementation of the Charter, the Roadmap for the ASEAN Community and other important plans and programs, including the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity.

The association encourages member countries to incorporate regional agreements into their respective national development plans and programs to produce a harmony in the implementation of national and regional goals.

The summit also took tremendous efforts to enhance, expand and deepen the external relations of the Association while promoting ASEAN’s centrality in the region. The association has forged a common voice in many important and complicated issues, and proved itself to be the primary driving force in promoting dialogue and cooperation for peace, security and development in the region. It has also managed to link and harmonize the intertwined interests of its partners. Reality shows that ASEAN continues to maintain its centrality and its role as the leading factor in the promotion of a dynamic regional architecture.

It is highly appreciated that partners continue to attach importance to relations with ASEAN, enhance even further the comprehensive cooperation with the association, support ASEAN in the building of the Community and maintaining its central role in the region.

Sharing determination, ASEAN and its partners have agreed to upgrade the partnerships under the ASEAN+1 framework and make cooperation more substantive and effective, especially in the priority areas. They agreed to work together to improve the efficiency of ASEAN-led regional forums and to enhance dialogue and cooperation for the common interests of peace, stability and development in the region.

ASEAN has increasingly proved itself as a responsible member of the international community by joining efforts to address regional and global issues.

The association has also demonstrated its flexibility and quick response by its prompt actions to promote broad cooperation in responding to emerging challenges, particularly in economic recovery and sustainable development and in addressing global challenges like climate change, diseases and disasters. ASEAN has also made important contributions to the relevant activities of the UN, APEC, ASEM and G20.

PM Dung said the journey ahead of ASEAN is challenging, but with what the association had achieved, with the strong political will of all member countries and the support of their peoples as well as the support and assistance of its partners, ASEAN can be confident in a bright future of a resilient, developed and prosperous ASEAN Community.

He stated that in a year of ASEAN Chairmanship, Vietnam has done its utmost in collaboration with other ASEAN members to attain important results in building the ASEAN Community and contribute to peace, security and development in the region.

He reaffirmed the consistent policy of Viet Nam to continue its participation in ASEAN cooperation with the guiding principle of positivity, proactiveness and responsibility so as to make contributions to an even stronger and deeper integrated ASEAN.

On behalf of the Vietnamese Government and people, PM Dung expressed thanks to leaders and officials of ASEAN and the partner countries, the Secretary General of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat, and all friends in the region and worldwide for supporting, sharing and joining hands with Vietnam so that it can successfully accomplish the ASEAN Chairmanship of 2010.

In conclusion, PM Dung expressed his wish that Indonesia would successfully assume the ASEAN Chairmanship of 2011.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono congratulated Vietnam for successfully fulfilled the ASEAN Chairmanship of 2010, helping member countries be closer towards an ASEAN Community by 2015.

As ASEAN Chair of 2011, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his optimism about the future of ASEAN and pledged that Indonesia will exert every effort to coordinate with other member countries and partners to build the ASEAN Community.

Source: VNA