Canada's Special Envoy to the Indo Pacific Ian G. McKay. — VNS Photo Nhật Hồng

HÀ NỘI — Canada's Special Envoy to the Indo Pacific Ian G. McKay has reaffirmed ASEAN centrality at the core of the country's Indo-Pacific Strategy.

The official also expressed his belief that Canada's engagement in the region, as part of the 2022-strategy, even before all the recent geopolitical events, will "go a long way" to support Canada's presence and position in a world that is turning very unpredictable.

Talking to the press on the sidelines of the ASEAN Future Forum in Hà Nội this week, Ian noted that its Indo-Pacific Strategy is a whole-of-government strategy that comes from a "recognition that Canada needs to diversify more of its trade, its culture, its political ambitions, towards what is obviously the fastest growing economies in the world, fast growing population in the world and a part of the world that's really becoming centre of gravity."

"So Canada launched the strategy fully recognising that we needed to up our game and be more consistent and more present and activate all of the pillars of our strategy, defence cooperation, trade, people to people ties, solutions for climate change, resilience and mitigation, and, of course, upgrading our diplomatic presence in the region," the Special Envoy said.

Canada is proud to have been the third country in the world to be a dialogue partner with ASEAN, starting in 1977, he said.

Over three decades later, the Southeast Asian regional bloc and Canada upgraded relations to Strategic Partnership during the ASEAN-Canada Leaders' Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia in September 2023.

Canada's Prime Minister has participated in the ASEAN summits for several times in the past six or seven years, and it shows way back to 1977 the understanding that Canada and ASEAN members value true multilateralism, which is in the DNA of Canada.

"And we've had a terrific partnership for 48 years, and we'll look forward to another 48 years," Ian said.

ASEAN story is important at a time when the world is undergoing unprecedented geopolitical changes, he said.

He praised the ASEAN Future Forum hosted by Việt Nam, saying that the outcomes of this conference -- which brings people from all over the world to Việt Nam, nót just ASEAN members, but also European, Canadian, Australian, US partners -- will be terrific dialogues and pursuit of objectives, to talk about regional security, to focus on the digital economy.

Canada also can offer ASEAN its experience and expertise in sustainable energy, the Special Envoy said.

"ASEAN has a terrific digital economy framework agreement that should be shared more broadly with partners around the world, and focus in efforts on sustainable energy transition. The faster these economies grow, the more energy they're going to need. The reliance on sustainable energy has to be going forward," Ian said. — VNS