Speaking at the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed over two decades, ASEM has been confirmed and implementing a strategic vision of cooperation and international links; become a forum for connection, multi-layered links between nations, civilizations and associated businesses, the people of both continents of Asia - Europe for peace and development. But before the new opportunities and challenges in the world, ASEM needs to innovate, improve the efficiency of cooperation and towards new heights on dialogue and cooperation in the 21st century, contributing to peace, security, stability and sustainable development in both continents and the world.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the 11th ASEM
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Newly-emerging opportunities and challenges in the conjuncture in international relations require the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit to renovate and improve cooperative efficiency towards global scale in the 21st century, said PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Under the motto “20 Years of ASEM: Partnership for the Future through Connectivity”, the event will run until July 16 with the engagement of country leaders from 53 ASEM member states, the EU and ASEAN Secretariat.
According to PM Phuc, over the last two decades, ASEM has affirmed and implemented the strategic vision on international cooperation and connectivity and became a multi-layer connectivity forum among different countries and civilizations that link businesses and people from the two continents in favor of peace and growth.
Amidst new opportunities and challenges in the conjuncture in international relations, ASEM should renovate and improve cooperative efficiency towards global scale in the 21st century and contribute to peace, security, stability, and sustainable development, PM Phuc said. He suggested ASEM make full use of cooperative opportunities such as the digital era, new wage of international trade and investment, the fourth industrial revolution by defining connectivity as a major focus; investing in infrastructure projects; promoting trade and financial exchanges; developing IT and human power; accelerating regional and sub-regional connectivity including Mekong- Danube cooperation; striving for closer development gap; powering developing member states; and promoting people-to-people exchanges.
According to the Vietnamese PM, ASEM dialogues and cooperation should focus on sustainable growth; particularly via poverty reduction, social security, and response to global issues. In the short term, ASEM should contribute to the global common efforts to successfully realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction; and implement ASEM Sustainable Development Dialogue.
The Vietnamese speaker recommended ASEM deploy specific programs and projects on education, manpower development, natural disaster response, and sustainable water management. Vietnam always respects and prioritizes cooperation with ASEM and promotes Asian-European economies via the ASEAN Community, existing bilateral and multilateral cooperative forums.
At the ASEM Summit, delegates would discuss on global issues and evaluation of two-decade partnership relations and cooperative orientations as well as Asia-Europe connection, situations in Asia and Europe, and cooperative issues in ASEM.
ASEM provides a significant dialogue platform for Eurasian members to promote their economic recovery efforts and global challenges response. He also pledged that Vietnam will work hard in joint efforts in elevating ASEM cooperation and will foster partnerships and affiliation mechanisms among Asian-European economies through the ASEAN Community, as well as the existing bilateral and multilateral partnership mechanisms. He lauded the support of ASEM members to Vietnam’s initiative on creative education and human resource building, for sustainable development in 2017, which was launched during the 11th ASEM Summit.
** Later the same day, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and other ASEM leaders joined Mongolia’s Naadam Festival, which was recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.
