Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung presented ASEAN’s viewpoint on the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth at the opening of the G20 Summit in the morning of June 27 (local time) in Toronto, Canada.

The G20 Summit drew the participation of representatives from G20 countries, guest countries (Vietnam, Malawi, Ethiopia, Spain and the Netherlands) and international organisations (the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Labour Organisation, and the World Trade Organisation.

The theme “Framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth” of the summit has been adopted by G20 countries’ leaders so as to ensure the sustainable recovery and development of the global economy at the third G20 Summit in Pittsburgh in September 2009.

Following the speech of the host country’s PM Stephen Harper and IMF’s contributions, the summit discussed the report on policy selections to encourage G20 countries in achieving a scenario on the world’s economic prospect.

Addressing the event, PM Dung stressed that ASEAN members highlighted G20 leaders’ adoption of the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth at the Pittsburgh Summit and supported the framework’s content.

He also voiced the bloc’s support to the efforts for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and creating a strong financial system as a nucleus for sustainable development.

He noted that ASEAN member countries support fiscal consolidation on the basis of friendly growth, which is applied differently and in a flexible way based upon the situation of each country, so as to ensure economic recovery and the healthy for the financial system.

The ASEAN Summit in Hanoi in April this year issued a declaration on sustainable recovery and development, affirming to continue with monetary and fiscal support but prepare to lift supportive measures whenever the individual economy signals steady growth, PM Dung said.

ASEAN also welcomes G-20’s priority to narrowing development gap, supporting the establishment of working group for development and make “development” a topic of the G20 Summit to be held in November in Seoul , he added.

ASEAN supports and pledges to continue to combine its policy with policy selections by the G20, PM Dung affirmed.

The bloc also asked for a closer cooperation mechanism between G20 and ASEAN, starting by its positive participation in G20 policy making (as a guest), and then the acceptation, adaptation and harmonisation of G20’s policy selections and ASEAN’s, and getting feedback as the final step./.