Foreign Minister Bùi Thanh Sơn speaks at an inter-sectoral meeting in Ha Noi on Monday to review ASEAN cooperation in 2022 and set up orientations for this year. Photo courtesy of MOFA

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the national coordinating agency for ASEAN, chaired an inter-sectoral meeting in Hà Nội on Monday to review ASEAN cooperation and Việt Nam’s participation in the bloc’s activities in 2022, and set up orientations for this year.

Applauding their active engagement in and contributions to ASEAN cooperation in 2022, Foreign Minister Bùi Thanh Sơn said amid the complex international and regional situation and lingering impacts of many issues, ministries and sectors should make thorough plans for 2023. In particular, they should seek opportunities and tap into new potential to concurrently contribute to ASEAN cooperation and guarantee national interests to serve national development.

Close coordination among ministries and sectors was one of the decisive factors of the success and effectiveness of Việt Nam’s engagement in ASEAN’s activities, he underlined.

Deputy Foreign Minister Đỗ Hùng Việt said 2022 was a year full of both internal and external challenges for ASEAN. However, as the theme of the bloc for last year went – “addressing challenges together”, ASEAN surmounted difficulties by bringing into play solidarity, mutual assistance, sense of responsibility, and common voice in regional and global issues.

The region recorded a growth rate of over 5 per cent. The building of the ASEAN Community also recorded progress in all aspects, from defence, economy, trade, finance, transport to labour, education, health care, sports, culture, information, and science - technology. In particular, the launch of the drafting of the ASEAN Community’s Post-2025 Vision at the beginning of 2022 reflected member countries’ attention to and determination to consolidate an increasingly self-reliant and strong community.

The association had also seen great strides in external relations, including the establishment of comprehensive strategic partnerships with the US and India and the agreement in principle on the upgrade of ties with Canada, Việt went on.

At the meeting, participants said that last year, ministries and sectors of Việt Nam actively and closely cooperated with Chair Cambodia and other ASEAN countries via all channels, thus contributing to the bloc’s common success and promoting many issues of Viet Nam’s concern, including comprehensive recovery, inclusive development, sub-regional cooperation, digital economy, circular economy, energy transition, food security, and information security. They also proposed a number of practical initiatives highly valued by other countries.

Besides, they noted, Việt Nam successfully hosted and chaired many important activities to help resume the bloc’s cooperation such as the 23rd ASEAN Chiefs of Army Multilateral Meeting, the ASEAN Law Forum 2022, the ASEAN Conference on Civil Service Matters, and the ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting.

At the meeting, officials agreed to continue Việt Nam’s active and responsible participation to help carry out ASEAN’s priorities and focuses in 2023, maintain solidarity and bring into play the association’s centrality, promote the implementation of ASEAN blueprints on three pillars, build the Community’s Post-2025 Vision, and effectively promote issues of Việt Nam’s attention.

They also proposed reforming the coordination mechanism among ministries and sectors so as to better the quality and effectiveness of Việt Nam’s participation in ASEAN. — VNS