Vietnam always attaches importance and gives high priority to contributing to common efforts to raise the role of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) cooperation, said Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang.

The country also works to promote the Asia-Europe connectivity through the ASEAN Community, and existing partnerships, cooperation mechanisms, bilateral and multilateral connections, Hang said at the ministry’s regular press conference in Hanoi on March 1.

March 1 is ASEM Day, she said, adding as a founding member, Vietnam warmly welcomes the important event.

With the implementation of its extensive international integration and proactive multilateral foreign policies, Vietnam will continue to cooperate with members to build a vision for a responsible ASEM with adaptation capacity in the evolving architecture.

Since joining the forum in 1996, Vietnam has been an active and responsible member with significant milestones in ASEM’s path of development, contributing to raising ASEM’s role and position.

The Southeast Asian country successfully organised the 5th ASEM Summit in 2004, and economic ministers’ meeting (2001), information-technology ministers’ meeting (2006), foreign and education ministers’ meetings (2009) and labour ministers’ meeting (2012).

Vietnam proposed 23 initiatives and joined to launch 27 others in the areas drawing attention from businesses and people, such as in culture, health care, transportation, energy security, food security, climate change, science-technology, tourism, economics, green growth, social welfare.

The country is among leading nations in promoting periodic cooperation mechanism on natural disaster response and ASEM dialogue on sustainable development on water resources, upgrading the Mekong Sub-region cooperation to regional level, boosting first local cooperation projects in ASEM between localities of Vietnam and Romania and Bulgaria.

In 2107, Vietnam successfully carried out the Prime Minister’s initiative at the 11th ASEM Summit in Mongolia in July 2016 with hosting the ASEM conference on innovative education and human resources building for sustainable development in Hue city on March 29-321. The country chaired the 37th meeting of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) Board of Governors.- VNA