Conference held in Mexico to mark ASEAN’s 50th anniversary

The formation of the ASEAN Community is a significant milestone in ASEAN’s history that allows member states to connect, share benefits and develop in a new journey.
Conference held in Mexico to mark ASEAN’s 50th anniversary ảnh 1A photo of ASEAN ambassadors at the event. (Source: VNA)
Mexico City (VNA) – The formation of the ASEAN Community is a significant milestone in ASEAN’s history that allows member states to connect, share benefits and develop in a new journey.

This was highlighted by Ambassadors of Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines to Mexico at a conference to mark the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN held in Mexico on May 4.

The event was attended by professors, PhD and post graduates from El Colegio de Mexico (COLMEX), a prestigious Mexican institute of higher education.

The ambassadors also presented ASEAN’s formation, development and objectives at the conference.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Le Linh Lan said that besides development opportunities toward the bloc’s prosperity, ASEAN still faces a number of challenges.

ASEAN member states need to join hands to reduce development gap and elevate the group’s position in the international arena, Lan stressed, affirming that Vietnam, as a responsible member, has made positive contributions to the ASEAN development.

ASEAN’s key objective is to build the association into an intergovernmental cooperation organisation. The ASEAN Community is set up based on three pillars, namely ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

With a market of over 620 million consumers and a gross domestic product reaching more than 2.5 trillion USD in 2016, ASEAN has become the world’s seventh largest economy.

On the occasion, Ambassador Le Linh Lan opened a photo exhibition on the land and people of Vietnam and presented books to COLMEX’s library.

Lan expressed hope that the exhibition and books will nudge Vietnam, a heroic country during struggles for national independence, closer to Mexican researchers and students.

Meanwhile, Director of the COLMEX’s Asia-Africa research centre Amaury Garcia affirmed that the books are valuable documents which help tighten cooperation and friendship between the two countries.-VNA


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