Malaysian, Lao media spotlight 36th ASEAN Summit

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Major newspapers of Malaysia and Laos have published a series of articles on the upcoming 36th ASEAN Summit and other activities hosted by Vietnam as ASEAN Chair 2020.

Malaysian-based New Straits Times said in an article that after nearly two months being postponed due to COVID-19, the summit will take place virtually on June 26 under the chair of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

It gave information on a host of key activities that will be held. Accordingly, it said the Vietnamese PM will chair dialogues between ASEAN leaders and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), ASEAN youth representatives, and ASEAN Business Advisory Council. He will also preside over the opening, plenary and special sessions on women's empowerment in the digital age, the paper added.

Another Malaysian paper, the Malay Mail, in its article, titled “Women key to ASEAN’s COVID-19 response, economic development”, praised Vietnam’s efforts in the regional fight against the pandemic.

It noted as part of its chairmanship, Vietnam envisions a “cohesive and responsive” ASEAN community, saying such theme is an appropriate call for the bloc in its collective response to the epidemic.

Vietnam wants to focus on solidarity and unity, economic connectivity, promoting the values and identities of the ASEAN Community as its priority areas, among others, the newspaper reiterated PM Phuc’s statement at the turnover ceremony of the 35th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in November 2019.

“Solidarity among all member-states and with all ASEAN people is the region’s only way out of the pandemic,” it said.

Meanwhile, news on the Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (IAMM), the 21st ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), and the 26th ASEAN Coordinating Council Meeting, which were held online on June 24, came in droves on Lao newspapers the next day. These events were chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.

According to Laos’ media, at the IAMM, regional ministers exchanged views on efforts and measures done as part of cooperation frameworks among ASEAN member states and between the bloc and its partners to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The meeting also considered some countries’ proposals to join the bloc’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC). Lao press said such discussion demonstrated ASEAN’s leading role in and important contributions to ensuring peace, security, and order in the region and in the world.

Lao media said the 26th ASEAN Coordinating Council Meeting acknowledged progresses and praised efforts made by the bloc in building the ASEAN Community under Vietnam’s chairmanship this year./.