Vientiane (VNA) – Lao Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Phongsavan Sisoulat has underscored the significance of the ASEAN Future Forum 2026, touting Vietnam’s role in bolstering the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)'s centrality and amplifying the bloc’s voice for peace and stability across the region and beyond.
Speaking to Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reporters in Vientiane just ahead of the forum in Hanoi on June 9-10, Phongsavan credited Vietnam with launching and successfully hosting the event in 2024 and 2025. Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone’s attendance in two of the three editions, he noted, reflected Laos’s strong regard for the special bilateral relationship and the forum itself. His remarks also demonstrated Laos’s sense of responsibility towards ASEAN’s shared future.
Each edition picks a different theme, yet all are tightly calibrated to a global geopolitical and economic landscape that is shifting fast and remains hard to predict. Holding the forum every year reflects Vietnam’s sustained commitment to pushing its own priorities and initiatives.
This year's theme “Shaping a Shared Future: Peace, Prosperity and People-Centred Development” shows Vietnam’s sensitivity and sense of timing amid fast-moving, uncertain global developments, he said.
Phongsava described the forum as a vital mechanism to share views and map out future cooperation, aimed at strengthening the ASEAN Community’s resilience and its ability to respond effectively and promptly to challenges while seizing opportunities.
Ideas and proposals raised in 2024 and 2025 served as important inputs for the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and related strategic documents. Focused on reinforcing ASEAN's leadership and centrality, driving economic growth, digital transformation, green growth and crisis resilience, those ideas are now being actively translated into action, he said.
Phongsavan called the forum a bridge connecting governments, research institutes, experts, businesses and other stakeholders to shape ASEAN's policies in a more comprehensive, modern and practical way, ultimately delivering greater benefits to the ASEAN people.
With many regions still grappling with geopolitical and geo-economic tensions, transnational crime, climate change and rapid technological advance, ASEAN must step up consultations to deepen unity and broaden cooperation across all fields, the official said.
He believed that the forum will not only lift Vietnam’s role and standing but also make a major contribution to defining ASEAN’s vision and future cooperation path, helping build a region of peace, stability, prosperity and sustainable development.
On Vietnam’s contribution to promoting ASEAN's centrality and amplifying the bloc’s voice in regional peace and stability, Phongsavan said amid fast-changing and unpredictable landscapes, including traditional and non-traditional challenges, plus intensifying geopolitical and geo-economic competition, Vietnam has increasingly taken a key role in driving strategic consultations on ASEAN’s future direction.
Particularly, Vietnam’s initiative to establish the forum matters to leaders, policymakers, researchers and stakeholders shaping the bloc’s long-term vision and development path. The forum is not only a platform to debate current challenges but also anticipate and prepare for future ones that could hit the region, he said.
The Lao side praises Vietnam’s role in promoting cooperation, strengthening ASEAN's unity and reinforcing shared responsibility, he said, voicing his confidence that with Vietnam’s important contributions and constructive initiatives, together with other member states, ASEAN will continue to grow into a strong community that plays an increasingly important role on the global and regional stage./.
