Vietnam bolsters ASEAN cooperation in sustainable development

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam, performing its roles as the ASEAN Chair in 2020 and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, will continue boosting cooperation in sustainable development for the goal of building a cohesive and responsive ASEAN, towards the realisation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, a Government official has affirmed.

Addressing the fourth High-level Dialogue on Complementarities between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on June 4, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung proposed several orientations to effectively carry out the complementary roadmap during 2020-2025 by putting the people at the centre in policy-making and carrying out sustainable development programmes and projects.

Dung, who is head of the ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) of Vietnam, stressed the importance of intensifying technology application in promoting sustainable development, policy-making, as well as national and regional sustainable development strategies; maintaining economic integration; resume supply chains and foster intra-bloc trade and investment.

He affirmed that Vietnam has actively stepped up joint efforts among ASEAN in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Challenges such as gender inequality, poverty, food security, climate change and digital gap are a “test” for core development values to ensure the self-reliance, cohesiveness, responsiveness, and sustainable development of each country and the whole world, he added.

Delegates said that sustainable development remains a priority in regional and international cooperation agendas, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

They proposed orientations to effectively carry out the complementary roadmap during 2020-2025 in the five main fields: poverty reduction, infrastructure and connectivity, sustainable management of natural resources, sustainable production and consumption, and self-reliance.

The dialogue has been held annually by Thailand – ASEAN coordinator for sustainable development, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) since 2017./.