As ASEAN Chair, Vietnam will spare noefforts to join with bloc members to obtain new achievements on the waytowards a prosperous, peaceful and stable ASEAN Community.
The statement was made by Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoangin his new year’s message on the country’s role in its capacity as theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Chair in general and theASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Chair in particular.
Vietnam officially undertook the Chairmanship of ASEAN on January 1,2010, coinciding with the year the country celebrates the 15thanniversary of its membership, Minister Hoang said.
As AEC Chair, Vietnam work with economic agencies identified as‘pillars’ of growth for the association to organise a series ofactivities such as the AEC Council meeting, economic ministerialmeetings, and other related events.
Minister Hoang said Vietnam sees its elevated role as both a greathonour and an important responsibility in advancing the process ofregional cooperation towards the bloc’s goal of establishing an ASEANEconomic Community by 2015.
As a main pillar of the ASEAN community, the AEC aims to create asingle market, in which the distribution of goods, services, capitaland skilled labourer will be designed to maximise overall prosperity,creating a strong impetus for the economic restructuring of Vietnam aswell as other ASEAN members.
ASEAN’s determination is clearly and fully demonstrated in its masterplan and strategic roadmap to implement the AEC by 2015, he added.
The Minister noted this year’s important milestones along the road tobuilding the AEC. The region will remove all tariff and non-tariffbarriers in 2010. Taxes on almost all ASEAN goods will be reduced,exempted or removed, with 97 percent of items being taxed at zero to 5percent.
The bloc will also focuses on facilitating trade and construction of a common trade management mechanism in this year.
Regional economic integration work, by necessity, in combination withthe development of the world economy, Minister Hoang said. So, ASEANmust always attach importance to expanding economic cooperation withother countries in the region and the world as well.
The group has set up official political dialogues with 12 majorpartners, of which six countries have established free trade areas withASEAN, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia andNew Zealand. The other partners--the US , the European Union and Russia—are actively bolstering close economic cooperation with the bloc.
Hoang expressed his wish for further support from ASEAN members, theASEAN Secretariat, partners and international friends of Vietnam duringits term as ASEAN Chairman.
Since becoming an ASEAN membership in 1995, Vietnam has been fully andresponsibly participating in all ASEAN activities, thus contributing toregional successes along the path to building a prosperous and dynamiccommunity of reciprocity and cooperation.
ASEAN today is a political-economic entity closely connecting membercountries, playing a key role in the regional, international issues anda reliable partner of many nations and organisations in the world.
The group is working towards building the AEC by 2015—a unitedcommunity with three major pillars –Security and Politics, Economicsand Society and Culture, operating within the mutually agreed-uponguidelines with the ASEAN Charter.
Established in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand andVietnam./.
The statement was made by Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoangin his new year’s message on the country’s role in its capacity as theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Chair in general and theASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Chair in particular.
Vietnam officially undertook the Chairmanship of ASEAN on January 1,2010, coinciding with the year the country celebrates the 15thanniversary of its membership, Minister Hoang said.
As AEC Chair, Vietnam work with economic agencies identified as‘pillars’ of growth for the association to organise a series ofactivities such as the AEC Council meeting, economic ministerialmeetings, and other related events.
Minister Hoang said Vietnam sees its elevated role as both a greathonour and an important responsibility in advancing the process ofregional cooperation towards the bloc’s goal of establishing an ASEANEconomic Community by 2015.
As a main pillar of the ASEAN community, the AEC aims to create asingle market, in which the distribution of goods, services, capitaland skilled labourer will be designed to maximise overall prosperity,creating a strong impetus for the economic restructuring of Vietnam aswell as other ASEAN members.
ASEAN’s determination is clearly and fully demonstrated in its masterplan and strategic roadmap to implement the AEC by 2015, he added.
The Minister noted this year’s important milestones along the road tobuilding the AEC. The region will remove all tariff and non-tariffbarriers in 2010. Taxes on almost all ASEAN goods will be reduced,exempted or removed, with 97 percent of items being taxed at zero to 5percent.
The bloc will also focuses on facilitating trade and construction of a common trade management mechanism in this year.
Regional economic integration work, by necessity, in combination withthe development of the world economy, Minister Hoang said. So, ASEANmust always attach importance to expanding economic cooperation withother countries in the region and the world as well.
The group has set up official political dialogues with 12 majorpartners, of which six countries have established free trade areas withASEAN, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia andNew Zealand. The other partners--the US , the European Union and Russia—are actively bolstering close economic cooperation with the bloc.
Hoang expressed his wish for further support from ASEAN members, theASEAN Secretariat, partners and international friends of Vietnam duringits term as ASEAN Chairman.
Since becoming an ASEAN membership in 1995, Vietnam has been fully andresponsibly participating in all ASEAN activities, thus contributing toregional successes along the path to building a prosperous and dynamiccommunity of reciprocity and cooperation.
ASEAN today is a political-economic entity closely connecting membercountries, playing a key role in the regional, international issues anda reliable partner of many nations and organisations in the world.
The group is working towards building the AEC by 2015—a unitedcommunity with three major pillars –Security and Politics, Economicsand Society and Culture, operating within the mutually agreed-uponguidelines with the ASEAN Charter.
Established in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand andVietnam./.
