Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s participation at the 10th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) Summit aims to send out the message that Vietnam consistently values and contributes to promoting cooperation mechanisms in the Mekong sub-region, creating breakthroughs for the development of sub-regional cooperation in the new period.

The trip affirms Vietnam’s external policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation, and diversification of international relations, and being a friend, trustworthy partner, and responsible member of the international community.

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Thanh Binh, this is an important opportunity for Vietnam to demonstrate its willingness to cooperate in a spirit of openness, enhance mutual understanding, and deepen the friendly relations with member countries, as well as promote comprehensive economic, trade, and investment cooperation.

The leader will focus on promoting cooperation areas that align with Vietnam's development priorities in the new context. This includes strengthening traditional advantages such as the import and export of goods and services, enhancing infrastructure connectivity, and ensuring the sustainable and efficient management of trans-boundary water resources.

Vietnam will actively seek resources to tap significant potential in science and technology, innovation, smart solutions, digital transformation, and green transition, all aimed at supporting its socio-economic development and fulfilling its commitments to sustainable development and emissions reduction, the official said.

The country officially joined the ACMECS at its first summit in Thailand in November 2004. Over the past 20 years, Vietnam has consistently regarded ACMECS as a strategically important cooperation mechanism with a close link to Vietnam's key international partners.

An active and responsible member, Vietnam has made significant contributions to ACMECS cooperation. With its position as the eastern gateway of the Mekong sub-region, it is an indispensable factor in the economic corridors of the region.

Vietnam has proposed and implemented many new ideas, while making contributions to the development of important documents and the shaping and promotion of initiatives, and supporting the development of member countries, including human resources development and infrastructure building. The country has also played the role of the coordinator in several specialised areas of cooperation and carried out numerous practical activities that have helped foster comprehensive cooperation among the five countries.

Vietnam has hosted two editions of the ACMECS Summit in 2008 and 2016. In the third ACMECS Summit in Hanoi in November 2008, it proposed the establishment of the ACMECS Working Group on Environmental Cooperation, for which Vietnam plays the role of a co-chair.

At the seventh ACMECS Summit in Hanoi in October 2016, participants adopted the Hanoi Declaration, agreeing to promote ACMECS' priority areas of future cooperation, including transportation, trade and investment facilitation, industry, tourism, agriculture, and the environment. Notably, they committed to enhancing cooperation to improve multimodal transport connectivity and maximise the use of road transport networks and economic corridors.

Vietnam has conducted procedures to announce its financial contribution plan for the ACMECS Development Fund, thus promoting the early establishment of the fund, ensuring the effective implementation of projects in the ACMECS Master Plan, bringing practical benefits to the people and economies of ACMECS as well as the sustainable development of the sub-region./.VNA