Vietnam has fulfilled its role as ASEAN Chair over the past six months and successfully organised the 36th ASEAN Summit, according to Deputy Foreign Minister and head of the ASEAN Senor Officials’ Meeting delegation of Laos Thongphane Savanphet.
Advancing ASEAN’s contribution to maintaining regional peace, security and stability has been identified as one of five key priorities for Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship 2020, wrote Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh in an article. Below is a translation of the article.
Social affairs will be an important issue of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as its socio-cultural community in 2020 when Vietnam serves as Chair of the ASEAN, a Vietnamese official has said.
Ceremonies were held in Bangkok on November 4 evening to wrap up the 35th ASEAN Summit and related summits and hand over the ASEAN chairmanship for 2020 to Vietnam.
Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has asked the National ASEAN 2020 Committee, its sub-committees and Secretariat, ministries, and agencies to do their utmost to finalize preparations for Vietnam to take over the ASEAN Chairmanship from Thailand in early November 2019.
The National ASEAN 2020 Committee, tasked with making preparations for Vietnam to shoulder the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020, made debut in Hanoi on December 24.
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has expressed Vietnam’s support for Laos’ reform, construction, and development during his reception on Tuesday for Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith who is in Hanoi for regional summits.
