With the motto of proactiveness, activeness and responsibility, the Vietnamese delegation led by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made great contributions to the success of the 18 th ASEAN Summit, which was held in Jakarta , Indonesia from May 7-8.

Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told the Vietnam News Agency that Vietnam ’s activities at the 18 th ASEAN Summit were in line with the spirit of the 11 th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam on the country’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace and development, diversification and multilateralisation of relations, and proactive and active international integration.

According to Minh, with a determination to uphold results attained during the year Vietnam served as ASEAN Chair in 2010, at this summit, PM Dung suggested the continued acceleration of ASEAN cooperation in the direction of raising the “action” and “enforcement” in the implementation of the Roadmap of Building the ASEAN Community based on three pillars: security-politics, economics and socio-culture; strengthening coordination and supervision in carrying out community building plans on both national and regional levels; and emphasising the importance of narrowing the development gap between regional nations in order to create a firm foundation for ASEAN connectivity.

In addition, Vietnam and ASEAN countries exchanged measures to speed up and deepen the cooperation between ASEAN and its partners, creating conditions for large partners’ deeper participation in regional cooperation, thus actively contributing to peace, stability, security and development in the region as well as helping ASEAN build its community and effectively deal with challenges facing the region such as maritime security and safety, natural disaster management and climate change.

PM Dung stressed that cooperation in coping with climate change and boosting sustainable development is an important content of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) cooperation, especially the reasonable and sustainable exploitation and use of water resource.

The exploitation and use of Mekong River water resource, particularly the building of works on the main stream of the river, should ensure residents’ interests and the sustainable development of all riverside countries, especially those in the lower areas, he said, adding that this requires a close cooperation in using water resource between five ASEAN countries and China, which share the Mekong River.

To consolidate and promote ASEAN’s central role in regional cooperation processes and in a shaping regional structure, Vietnam and other ASEAN members underlined the need for the bloc to strengthen internal coordination and continue boosting dialogue and cooperation with China in order to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on Conducts of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and build a Code of Conducts in the East Sea (COC) by 2012 on the occasion of the DOC’s 10 th anniversary, thus better serving peace, stability and security in the East Sea.

ASEAN countries have discussed specific measures to implement a decision made by the 5 th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Hanoi in October 2010 on inviting Russian and US leaders to join the 6 th EAS later this year, Minh said.

During his stay in Indonesia to attend the 18 th ASEAN Summit, PM Dung had separate meetings with the Presidents of Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines and the Prime Ministers of Thailand and Laos to boost bilateral cooperation and exchange on issues of common concern.

Regarding discussions on the theme of “ASEAN Community in a Global Community”, issues relating to regional peace and stability as well as commitments reached during the 18 th ASEAN Summit, Deputy FM Minh pointed out that ASEAN’s successes over the past time, especially its specific cooperation results in 2010, made practical contributions to fostering intra-bloc connectivity, creating a strong push for ASEAN to strengthen relations with its partners and improve its role in the region.

These successes lay the foundation for ASEAN to strive for the next goal of raising its role and voice in the world, especially in the settlement of global issues, he concluded./.