ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn (Photo: VNA) Speaking to the Vietnam News Agency, Kao Kim Hourn said the events will continue to drive the ASEAN Community-building process along its three pillars of politics and security, economics, and socio-culture toward a region of peace, stability, and prosperity, with people at the centre.
Within the realm of politics and security, participants will focus their discussion on the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) treaty, the ASEAN Maritime Outlook, transnational crime and human trafficking prevention, as well as the implementation of the 5-point consensus to support stability in Myanmar.
Regarding the socio-cultural pillar, delegates will discuss various issues, including women's empowerment and climate change, which are topics of regional interest, he added.
ASEAN leaders will consider ways to speed up the digital economy, investment, and trade, and to facilitate intra-bloc trade activities, and between the group and its partner countries by upgrading a number of free trade agreements and implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, toward ensuring prosperous development in Southeast Asia.
The first challenge that ASEAN faces is how to keep the regional economy moving and maintain growth, Kao Kim Hourn said, emphasising the need for ASEAN to ensure that the region remains open for business activities, continues to attract foreign direct investment, and truly becomes the epicenter of global economic growth.
ASEAN should also pay attention to solving the issues of climate change, and food and energy security, he went on./.
VNA
