The forum is being held under an initiative put forward by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in Indonesia last September with a view to creating a forum for ASEAN member states, partners, and other stakeholders to contribute to further promoting and shaping the future development path for ASEAN.
The forum is focusing on discussing solutions aimed at ensuring harmony between development and environmental protection, responding to climate change, and maintaining social security. Enterprises used the occasion to share many business ideas and network connections as a means of stepping up business investment co-operation.
In his welcome speech given to nearly 500 delegates at the event, PM Chinh stated that discussing the future and planning for the future is becoming more urgent than ever.
According to the PM, in that context after nearly six decades of formation and development, it can be affirmed that the bloc has never been in a better position than it is today and has never faced as many challenges as it does today.
ASEAN represents the nucleus to promote dialogue, co-operation, and development, whilst it is also the focus of a series of regional connectivity initiatives, but also the focus of fierce strategic competition.
ASEAN makes up the fifth largest economic bloc in the world, but the difference in development levels remains significant, with the level of cooperation and connectivity within the bloc not being particularly strong. That reality requires the regional bloc to have a comprehensive strategic vision, whilst striving to enhance initiative and adaptability to seize opportunities, resolve challenges, and develop stably and sustainably.
The Vietnamese Government chief said that after nearly three decades of entry into ASEAN, the nation always views the bloc as one of its top priorities in foreign, security, economic, and defence policies.
The country always tries its best to achieve a united and strong ASEAN Community with an increasingly high role and position within the region and the world.
In line with this, Vietnam's development path in the innovation and integration process is always associated with ASEAN and has reaped many important achievements in a multitude of fields within this close relationship.
Vietnamese success therefore affirms the correctness and strategy of the Vietnamese Party and State's policies and guidelines on building three fundamental elements, including building socialist democracy, building a socialist law-governed state, and developing a socialist-oriented market economy.
However, the country also faces numerous difficulties and challenges as it is a developing country with a transitional economy of a modest scale that has high openness and limited resilience.
These are also common challenges that many ASEAN member states face on their development journey, therefore it requires solidarity, trust, joint efforts, and consensus of all member countries along with the co-operation and support of international partners and friends, PM Chinh emphasized.
He used the platform to call on ASEAN to persistently pursue a global, all-people, and comprehensive approach to ensure that the common ASEAN home is strong in all circumstances.
The bloc is aiming for goals by 2045 with aspiration of being a dynamic, cohesive, and self-reliant development community, PM Chinh said, while calling on ASEAN to reinforce solidarity, co-operation, and unity in diversity to uphold its spirit of independence, self-reliance, and strategic autonomy.
ASEAN must strive to promote its central role, respect differences, ensure harmony of interests, and remain steadfast in its principled stance on security and development issues of the region and the world, the Vietnamese cabinet leader said.
It can be considered essential to enhance digital transformation and green development, promote innovation, entrepreneurship, renew traditional growth drivers, and create new, sustainable growth drivers for ASEAN in the time ahead.
PM Chinh underlined the need to boost harmonious, sustainable, inclusive development, putting people at its centre, subject, driving force, resource, and goal of development without sacrificing social progress, justice, and the environment to pursue pure economic growth.
It is imperative to strengthen the mobilisation of all social resources, especially public-private co-operation, and create strategic breakthroughs in institutions, human resources, infrastructure, and national governance, all of which will help ASEAN to develop quickly and sustainably.
The PM believes that the bloc has been and will be further contributing in a proactive manner to the international community in terms of shaping the future of the world.
The Vietnamese side will continue to make greater efforts with member countries, partners, and friends of ASEAN to join hands to continue writing success stories, opening up a new strategic future for a dynamic, self-reliant, united ASEAN community in diversity, thereby actively contributing to peace, stability, co-operation, and development in the region and the world.
Lao PM Sonexay Siphandone welcomed and appreciated PM Chinh's idea of organising the forum when Laos is holding the ASEAN Chairmanship.
He highlighted the significance of the event with the participation and contributions of representatives of governments, scholars, and researchers in the region and the world. In addition, he praised the proactive contributions of Vietnam for the ASEAN Community in the new context, helping to raise the nation’s role and position in the region and the world.
Upon reviewing the development process of ASEAN after nearly six decades of formation and development, as well as the trends, opportunities, and challenges of moving forward, PM Siphandone said that the bloc needs to stay ready to seize opportunities and overcome challenges for the ASEAN Community and for its people.
Moving forward, the bloc needs to uphold its fundamental principles and internal cohesion, promote the central role of ASEAN and international law, take control of destiny, maintain stability, step up co-operation and development, and enhance economic goals. This is along with reducing development gaps whilst boosting inclusive and sustainable growth, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of ASEAN and bringing benefits to citizens.
PM Siphandone said that Laos will do its best to fulfill its role as ASEAN Chair in 2024, as well as ramping up close ties with ASEAN members and partners to create a solid foundation for the regional bloc in the future.
