Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Nguyen Hoai Duong on January 16 assumed position of Chair of the ASEAN Committee in Mexico City (ACMC), replacing Philippine Ambassador Demetrio R.Tuason.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Nguyen Hoai Duong (R) and Philippine Ambassador Demetrio R.Tuason

Duong vowed to do his best to speed up ACMC activities to intensify ASEAN countries’ cooperation with Mexico in all fields, especially in economics, trade, investment, tourism and culture, and to boost collaboration with the other Pacific Alliance members like Chile, Colombia and Peru.

At the handover ceremony, the Ambassadors of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam reviewed the committee’s activities in 2018 and set tasks for 2019.

They affirmed the formation of the ASEAN Community by 2015 with the three pillars of politics-security, economics and socio-culture has brought benefits to each member state and increased the central role of ASEAN in the region.

Counsellor in charge of ASEAN at the Vietnamese Embassy Tran Thanh Tam reported an action plan of the committee in the first half of 2019, including holding seminars and meetings with the host country’s officials, and cultural exchange activities to enhance friendship between ASEAN and Mexico.

According to the Mexican Ministry of Economy, trade between Mexico and the ASEAN countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam enjoyed an average annual growth of 10 percent to hit 25.51 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2018.-VNA