Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh chairs the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (Photo: VNA) Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian senior journalist Veeramalla Anjaiah voiced his hope that the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings will bring about positive results during an interview with the Vietnam News Agency's correspondents in Jakarta.
He set high expectations for the mid-term review of implementation of the ASEAN Vision 2025, formulation of Hanoi Declaration on the Post ASEAN Vision 2025, evaluation of the ASEAN Charter, signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), review of progress on ASEAN Outlook on Indo Pacific, new signatories to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and regional connectivity.
Most importantly, ASEAN and East Asia Summit leaders will discuss strategies on how to contain COVID-19 and how to cooperate among themselves, he said.
As pharmaceutical companies recently announced the development of a vaccine candidate found to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, ASEAN’s leaders will come up with constructive plans about economic recovery, Anjaiah added.
The 37th ASEAN Summit and its related meetings come at a crucial time, especially at the peak of COVID-19 pandemic. When Vietnam took over ASEAN Chair from Thailand last year, the country made all preparations to execute its plans but the pandemic made the situation very difficult.
In April 2020, Vietnam took the lead to organise an ASEAN gathering to deal with COVID-19.
“It was a big success for Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship. Throughout the year, all ASEAN meetings and summits were held virtually. Many of Vietnam’s targets have been achieved so far,” said the journalist.
Another important achievement of Vietnam is maintaining ASEAN unity and solidarity. Vietnam’s ASEAN Chair theme “Cohesive and Responsive” is relevant and timely.
Despite of the challenges and problems from COVID-19, Vietnam successfully led ASEAN throughout the year.
The Cabinet Secretariat of the Indonesian government declared that Indonesia fully supports all initiatives of Vietnam as ASEAN Chair. Many countries, including the US, Japan, India and Australia have praised Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship.
The signing of RCEP will be an important achievement during Vietnam’s Chairmanship if it is signed this week.
The country successfully united all ASEAN countries on the issues of rules-based order in the East Sea and legally binding Code of Conduct in accordance with UNCLOS with China.
Anjaiah affirmed that Vietnam’s ASEAN leadership has navigated the troubled waters and maintained ASEAN unity, solidarity, cohesiveness, neutrality, peace and security./.
