Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh highlighted the role of openness and cooperation spirit as crucial to help Asia overcome global financial crisis and facilitate economic growth in his keynote address at the 24th International Conference on the Future of Asia held in Tokyo on June 11-12. 

Binh said achievements that Asia has reaped over the past decade are the result of the open-door policy, trade liberalisation promotion, regional connectivity strengthening to ensure a stable macro-economic environment. 

He proposed five main measures that help Asia maintain growth in the new situation, including abiding by international law in general and the World Trade Organisation regulations, speeding up comprehensive economic integration for the common goal of sustainable and inclusive development, accelerating economies’ open-door policy for own interests of each country and common interests of the region, taking humans as a central factor and creativity as a driving force to catch up with new trends and maintain sustainable and long-term growth, strengthening trust to ensure an environment of peace and stability for development. 

The Deputy PM shared achievements that Vietnam has made over the past three decades of reform, stressing that trust and start-up spirit are driving force for the country to continue with its policy of reform, integration and effective use of resources for rapid and sustainable development. 

In order to fulfil socio-economic development goals until 2020, Vietnam is striving to build a constructive, transparent, action and service-oriented government on the back of openness and transparency, build a favourable and competitive business environment, and push up global integration, he said. 

He added that Vietnam’s economic growth prospect is opening up cooperation opportunities for global firms in general and Japanese ones in particular. 

Reviewing 45 years of Vietnam – Japan ties, the Deputy PM affirmed that the bilateral extensive strategic partnership is at the best and believed that the bilateral ties will further develop comprehensively and practically in diverse areas. 

Themed “Keeping Asia open – How to achieve prosperity and stability”, the event discussed ties among major countries, trade tension, prospect and significance of new-generation trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Inter-Korean peninsula situation, the US-DPRK Summit, financial demand and tools for infrastructure development in Asia. 

Delegates also debated measures that Asian nations need to take in the new context to maintain peace, stability and ensure sustainable development in each country and the whole continent.

VN Deputy PM meets S.E Asian leaders on sidelines of int’l conference on future of Asia

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh had bilateral meetings with leaders from the three Southeast Asian countries of Laos, Malaysia and Singapore on June 11 on the sidelines of the 24th International Conference on the Future of Asia.

In a meeting with Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, both sides attached the importance of the Vietnam-Laos special friendship and affirmed to deepen bilateral cooperation in the future.

They agreed to accelerate economic cooperation in an effective and practical manner, with focus on key transportation, economic and infrastructure projects.

The Lao leader affirmed to create favourable conditions for and encourage cooperation between businesses of both sides. The Lao government will work to remove bottlenecks for cooperative projects, particularly significant ones which bring substantial benefits for people of the two countries.

The two leaders said that Vietnam and Laos will continue to share information and coordinate at multilateral forums to maintain peace, stability, and sustainable development in each nation.

Congratulating Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on his election, Deputy PM Binh said that Vietnam always treasures and wants to elevate the strategic partnership with Malaysia to a new height. 

The Malaysian PM suggested both countries consolidate political trust, boost economic cooperation with new approaches, focusing on sectors which apply high tech and have highly-added value to adapt to the globe’s rapid changes and impacts of the industry 4.0.

Binh and Mahathir reached consensus on expanding marine cooperation, promoting the signing of fishery cooperation deals, addressing fishermen-related issues, and accelerating negotiations on overlapping waters. 

They also talked regional and international issues of mutual interests, stressing the need to strengthen solidarity to build a peaceful, stable and resilient ASEAN bloc.

Meanwhile, Binh and his Singaporean counterpart Teo Chee Hean achieved consensus on maintaining political trust, fortifying the implementation high-level agreements, especially those reached during PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Singapore in April, as well as promoting defence-security cooperation. 

Teo committed to helping Vietnam enhance management capacity, share experience in training young leaders, and collaborate to foster regional economic integration through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

VNA