ASEAN, EU share experiences in community development

Participants at the event (Photo:VNA)

A workshop on building an ASEAN socio-cultural community based on the European Union (EU)’s experiences was conveyed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Delegation of the EU in Hanoi on August 26.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung stressed the EU is a successful model of regional integration in all the fields of economics, politics and society.

ASEAN will learn from the EU’s valuable experiences to develop its socio-cultural community and maintain the bloc’s identity, he added.

One of the lessons from the EU is that culture is a key element in establishing and developing an ASEAN community and the community should focus on the human factor as mutual understanding will help with the building of a common identity, shared Vu Thanh Ha from the Institute for European Studies.

She reckoned the establishment process of the EU showed each country member should give up some of its own interests to integrate into the community, which will in turn create even more substantial benefits.

Reviewing development and cooperation prospects between the EU and ASEAN in developing regional and inter-regional cultural community, Philippine Ambassador Jerril G. Santos said the two sides should expand existing mechanisms and dialogues for more comprehensive understanding in the future.

He went on to say the sides should conduct regular personnel exchanges in different areas, particularly in policies under the socio-cultural cooperation framework in an attempt to gain a clearer understanding on each other’s institutional processes.

Delegates at the event discussed issues on approaches and experiences of the EU in socio-cultural development and management as well as proposing practical measures for the ASEAN socio-cultural community development.

Earlier, the EU and ASEAN jointly organized a photo exhibition.-VNA