Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand on January 1 started its role as the rotatingChair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2019.
When receiving the role from Singapore at the ASEAN Summit on November 13-15,2018, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha defined “Advancing Partnership forSustainability" as the official theme for the year Thailand assumes theASEAN Chairmanship.
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, in his speech on November 21, 2018, alsoemphasised the need to adapt to new conditions of ASEAN if the organisationwants to be a modern regional community.
ASEAN groups ten countries namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It is now the world’ssixth largest economy with a population of 650 million and a GDP of nearly 3trillion USD.
With ASEAN’s increasing role and position, world powers like the US, Russia andChina have showed their desire to further develop relations with the bloc.-VNA
ASEAN Chair 2020 – Responsibility and opportunity for Vietnam
The recent establishment of the National ASEAN 2020 Committee is one of the initial steps that Vietnam has taken for months to prepare for the task of the ASEAN Chair in 2020, said Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung.