Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Le Sy Vuong Ha presided over the 229 th session of the ASEAN Committee (ACO), which was held in Canadian capital city on December 1.
At the session, the ambassadors from seven ASEAN members countries, including Vietnam , Indonesia , Thailand , the Philippines , Myanmar , Malaysia and Brunei compared notes on ASEAN’s activities in recent times.
They reviewed activities of ASEAN’s diplomatic representatives in Canada , especially preparations for the 35 th anniversary of the ASEAN-Canada ties next year. They discussed ways to further strengthen ties between the ASEAN diplomatic corps with Canadian agencies.
Canada regards ASEAN as an important partner and is considering the possibility of setting up a development fund to support the ASEAN community’s activities in Canada .
Canada has signed the third Protocol amending ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and is preparing to complete the ASEAN-Canada Joint Declaration on Trade and Investment.
Vietnamese ambassador assumed ACO Chair from July 1 to December 31. The Philippines ambassador, Leslie Gatan will take over the chairmanship of ACO from January 1 to June 30, 2012./.