Press conference spotlights ASEAN’s role in Indo-Pacific

Jakarta (VNA) - A press conference highlighting the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indo-Pacific took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 4.

The event was jointly organised by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and the Jakarta Post, attracting the participation of scholars, economic and political experts, and officials from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In her opening speech, Lydia Ruddy, Media Director of ERIA, pointed out difficulties and challenges that ASEAN will have to face in the next 1-2 decades, which are forecasted to be more complex than that facing the ASEAN Community in recent years because of great changes in the economic and geopolitical environment in the region and the world.

The ASEAN needs to quickly promote a clearer vision and devise more specific policies to affirm its role in Indo Pacific in the context big countries such the US, India, Australia and Japan are considering the implementation of their own strategies in the dynamic region.

Participants focused their discussions on key targets of ASEAN in the concept of the ASEAN vision of the Indo-Pacific  and how ASEAN will apply this vision to making specific policies in the region; and responses of other countries to this issue.

Talking to Indonesia-based Vietnam News Agency correspondents on the role of Vietnam in Indo-Pacific, Kavi Chongkittavorn, a senior communication advisor of ERIA, said as one of the ASEAN’s active members, Vietnam has made every effort to promote the concept of the ASEAN vision of the Indo-Pacific, and contributed to building and reinforcing the bloc’s position.

He expressed his belief on Vietnam’s role in further promoting the ASEAN’s development when the country assumes the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2020.-VNA