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Deputy PM attends key World Economic Forum sessions
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh delivered remarks at several key sessions during the ongoing annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on January 23 (local time).
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) attends key World Economic Forum sessions.
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In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the event, Minh said the vibrant growth of ASEAN economies is one of the factors in sustaining the Asian economic expansion, with ASEAN playing an active role in promoting regional connectivity.
In order for ASEAN economies to reap more rewards of regional integration in a new global context, the Deputy PM suggested the bloc focus on ensuring integration within the grouping as well as the feasibility and competitiveness of the ASEAN Community. He noted that a strong ASEAN Community is necessary for its members to promote greater regional and global integration.
Secondly, he called for more support for less developed member states to keep pace with and join their advanced partners in their common path towards prosperity.
In his words, greater regional integration should become a source of motivation for domestic reforms and turning opportunities into tangible benefits.
Each ASEAN member nation should step up the pace of economic reform and restructuring while making necessary preparations in terms of economic establishments, infrastructure and human resources, making it easier to leverage the ASEAN Community and free trade agreements with major partners in and outside the region.
He said that deeper regional integration helps bolster mutual trust and thus is the best way to address common challenges, including security threats, environment pollution, climate change and development gap.
According to him, ASEAN could fully benefit from integration when it can make full use of existing mechanisms such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region, ASEAN, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).
Last but not least, he said it is essential to respect ASEAN’s principle of neutrality in pushing forward deeper and broader integration.
On the 2015 global geopolitical issues, Deputy PM Minh said the WEF has proved its important role, when it saw the attendance of political and business elite around the world to talk in depth a series of challenges that are facing the world.
