An ASEAN Community by 2015 will mark a turning point in the comprehensive development process of the bloc, Head of the Vietnamese permanent delegation to ASEAN, Ambassador Vu Dang Dung, has said.
Ambassador Dung granted an interview to the Jakarta-based Vietnam News Agency correspondent in the threshold of the 47th founding anniversary of ASEAN, which falls on August 8.
He said the single community will turn ASEAN into an increasingly important socio-political entity, a nucleus, and a driving force for the process of cooperation and connectivity in East Asia and Asia-Pacific, and an indispensable partner of many countries and large centres across the world.
After nearly five years, over 80 percent of the measures defined in the roadmap for the construction of the Community’s three pillars of politics-security, economics and culture-social affairs, has been completed, and efforts to step up regional connectivity and narrow development gap have progressed positively, said the diplomat.
These outcomes have produced deep and broad effects on all spheres of the grouping’s cooperation, laying a foundation for an ASEAN community to be closely bonded politically and economically and share social responsibilities towards announcing its formal inception by the end of 2015, Ambassador Dung said.
The realization of the remaining measures and goals from now to the end of 2015 will, however, not be easy when the bloc also needs to be well prepared for its post-2015 development, especially the building of visions, goals and plans that will serve cooperation and connectivity at a higher level, he stressed.
Since joining ASEAN, Vietnam has been taking part vastly in all the grouping’s cooperative mechanisms, the Vietnamese official stated.
During the course of materialising the ASEAN Community building, Vietnam has proactively contributed to the compilation of crucial documents and development strategies, receiving high estimations from other member states and partners.
Taking part in the establishment of the ASEAN Community is a practical benefit for Vietnam since it helps create a favourable environment for the national development while bridging the country with the wider world comprehensively as set forth in the Political Bureau’s resolution 22-NQ22 on international integration, Dung said.
As there is a rather big gap in development with other regional countries, Vietnam needs to speed up reforms and do more for gradually adhering to regional standards. The country should raise the public awareness of benefits they can enjoy from the participation in building the ASEAN Community.
Apart from stringently complying with its commitments, Vietnam should proactively engage with the creation of cooperative frameworks and standards of conduct for areas that fit its advantages and capacity, the ambassador said.
According to the diplomat, after one year of operation, the Vietnamese delegation to ASEAN successfully accomplished its Chair of the 2010 Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) of ASEAN and hosted the organisation of CPR activities.
It has enthusiastically involved in preparing important materials and documents pertaining to the deployment of ASEAN Charter, the roadmaps for the Community building, the bloc’s external relation expansion, as well as the operation of the ASEAN Secretariat.
In the coming time, the delegation has set to continue to do more to push for the construction of the ASEAN Community and make preparations for the post-Community building period.
It will bring into full play its coordinating role and work closely with relevant agencies at home to increase cooperation in the fields where the country has interests in, make forecasts and send the country’s policy proposals to ASEAN, concluded Ambassador Dung.-VNA
Ambassador Dung granted an interview to the Jakarta-based Vietnam News Agency correspondent in the threshold of the 47th founding anniversary of ASEAN, which falls on August 8.
He said the single community will turn ASEAN into an increasingly important socio-political entity, a nucleus, and a driving force for the process of cooperation and connectivity in East Asia and Asia-Pacific, and an indispensable partner of many countries and large centres across the world.
After nearly five years, over 80 percent of the measures defined in the roadmap for the construction of the Community’s three pillars of politics-security, economics and culture-social affairs, has been completed, and efforts to step up regional connectivity and narrow development gap have progressed positively, said the diplomat.
These outcomes have produced deep and broad effects on all spheres of the grouping’s cooperation, laying a foundation for an ASEAN community to be closely bonded politically and economically and share social responsibilities towards announcing its formal inception by the end of 2015, Ambassador Dung said.
The realization of the remaining measures and goals from now to the end of 2015 will, however, not be easy when the bloc also needs to be well prepared for its post-2015 development, especially the building of visions, goals and plans that will serve cooperation and connectivity at a higher level, he stressed.
Since joining ASEAN, Vietnam has been taking part vastly in all the grouping’s cooperative mechanisms, the Vietnamese official stated.
During the course of materialising the ASEAN Community building, Vietnam has proactively contributed to the compilation of crucial documents and development strategies, receiving high estimations from other member states and partners.
Taking part in the establishment of the ASEAN Community is a practical benefit for Vietnam since it helps create a favourable environment for the national development while bridging the country with the wider world comprehensively as set forth in the Political Bureau’s resolution 22-NQ22 on international integration, Dung said.
As there is a rather big gap in development with other regional countries, Vietnam needs to speed up reforms and do more for gradually adhering to regional standards. The country should raise the public awareness of benefits they can enjoy from the participation in building the ASEAN Community.
Apart from stringently complying with its commitments, Vietnam should proactively engage with the creation of cooperative frameworks and standards of conduct for areas that fit its advantages and capacity, the ambassador said.
According to the diplomat, after one year of operation, the Vietnamese delegation to ASEAN successfully accomplished its Chair of the 2010 Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) of ASEAN and hosted the organisation of CPR activities.
It has enthusiastically involved in preparing important materials and documents pertaining to the deployment of ASEAN Charter, the roadmaps for the Community building, the bloc’s external relation expansion, as well as the operation of the ASEAN Secretariat.
In the coming time, the delegation has set to continue to do more to push for the construction of the ASEAN Community and make preparations for the post-Community building period.
It will bring into full play its coordinating role and work closely with relevant agencies at home to increase cooperation in the fields where the country has interests in, make forecasts and send the country’s policy proposals to ASEAN, concluded Ambassador Dung.-VNA
