Attending the event were Chilean Vice Ministerfor Trade Rodrigo Yanez, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs JorgeCanelas and about 100 representatives from diplomatic corps, partners, businessand press agencies in Chile, as well as communities of ASEAN countries in thecountry.
Speaking at the ASEAN flag hoisting ceremony,Chargé d'Affaires Nguyen Minh Anh stressed the contributions of ASEAN toregional peace and stability over the past 51 years, including theestablishment of the ASEAN Community.
He affirmed that ASEAN is now the seventhlargest economic community in the world with intensive and extensive linkages.It is playing an important strategic role in the Asia-Pacific region.
Anh said he is pleased with Chile givingpriority to promoting its relations with Asia-Pacific in general and ASEAN inparticular, highlighting the effective cooperation between ASEAN and Chilethrough free trade agreements the latter signed with several members of thebloc.
According to the diplomat, Vietnam’s hostingof the World Economic Forum on ASEAN (WEF ASEAN) 2018 this September will openup great collaboration opportunities for not only ASEAN but also those outside.
He expressed his belief that, looking towardthe APEC 2019, with the high consensus of members, ACS will continuecontributing to strengthening bilateral cooperation between ASEAN and Chile ingeneral and between each ASEAN member and the Latin American country inparticular.
Participants to the ceremony were introducedto ASEAN and had a chance to enjoy cuisines and wear traditional costumes ofits member countries.-VNA