At the 47th ASEAN Foreign Minister’s Meeting (AMM-47) and related meetings held on August 8-10 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, Vietnam was highly appreciated for its contributions to fostering solidarity within the bloc, promoting cooperation with partners and seeking solutions to ensure a peaceful environment in the region.

The 47th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings, such as the 4th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (EAS FMM-4) and the 21st ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF-21) drew much attention from the community because they took place in the context when the time for establishing the ASEAN community is coming. The regional and international situation is changing remarkably and there are many unexpected and unstable risks, including the tension in the East Sea.

Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh led a Vietnamese delegation to participate in important regional meetings and co-chaired the 20th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting (AEMM-20) as coordinator of the ASEAN-EU dialogue relations (2012-2015). Vietnam made active and responsible contributions to enhancing ASEAN’s solidarity and common voice.

Vietnam made practical recommendations on promoting cooperation and priorities of ASEAN and the region, including the building of the ASEAN Community, linkage and connectivity in different fields, and ASEAN’s post-2015 development vision.In the context of complicated regional and global developments, ASEAN’s leading task is to maintain an environment of peace, security and stability in the region to serve its building of the community and development goals.

Vietnam highly appreciated ASEAN’s solidarity and its responsible and central role in the evolving regional architecture and in strategic issues related to peace, security, stability and cooperation in the region, including the East Sea issue, as well as in building a regional architecture based on existing cooperation processes that are in line with the region’s interests and characteristics.

Accordingly, ASEAN must continue proactively promoting the building of cooperation frameworks and conduct principles in the region and bringing into full play the value and effectiveness of the current principle and conduct standards in the region, such as Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ), the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DoC), ASEAN’s Six-point Principle on the East Sea and the East Asia Summit on the Principles for Mutually Beneficial Relations (Bali Principles).

In economics, ASEAN should foster the bloc’s inner force and economic connectivity within the bloc that serve as a firm basis for ASEAN to be continually a factor to promote and expandthe economic linkage with its partners through FTAs+1 as well the whole region of Southeast Asia through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations.

In addition, Vietnam has closely coordinated with other ASEAN countries in building and fostering consensus on emerging issues in the region, including the East Sea issue.Countries inside and outside ASEAN shared and concurred with Vietnam’s sound viewpoint on the East Sea issue, which was included in several documents, especially the Joint Communiqué of the AMM-47.

Related to the East Sea issue, the Vietnamese delegation expressed deep concern about recent cases that resulted in tensions in the East Sea, particularly China’s illegal placement of its oil rig on Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, and stressed that ASEAN and its countries should step up their joint efforts to not allow the repeat of such violations; emphasised the full and effective implementation of the DOC, particularly Article 5 on exercising restraint and not complicating the situation; compliance with international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); no use of or threat to use force, while striving for an early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). Accordingly, ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed to task their Senior Officials to work out specific measures and mechanisms to ensure the serious implementation of Article 5.

Vietnam also backed the further expanding and deepening of relations between ASEAN and its partners, in order to create a favourable environment and mobilise resources for the community building process, while fostering cooperation in mutually beneficial areas such as connectivity, economy-trade and narrowing the development gap.

As the coordinator for the ASEAN-EU dialogue relations, Vietnam co-chaired the ASEAN-EU Foreign Ministers’ Meeting during which it proposed measures to lift bilateral ties towards a strategic partnership.

Vietnam encouraged the EU to play a more active role in promoting peace, security and building trust as well as supporting ASEAN’s central role in the regional architecture.

The Vietnamese delegation’s contributions to the meeting were appreciated by the countries and on the sidelines of the meetings it had many bilateral meetings to exchange measures to strengthen cooperation and issues of common concern.

VNA/VNP