Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang delivers a speech at the 28th Future of Asia. — Photo from the Việt Nam Government Portal

TOKYO — Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang highlighted the significance of maintaining solidarity, cooperation, responsibility and respecting the UN Charter and international law and settling disputes by peaceful means as the best to unite countries to overcome challenges and crises.

He made the statement on Thursday while delivering a speech at the 28th Future of Asia, taking place on May 25-26 in Tokyo, Japan, where delegates come together to discuss how the region can unlock and mobilise its potential to solve common issues in a multipolar world.

He said the world and Asia are witnessing a profound transformation with many landmark changes with many opportunities and challenges intertwined, adding that in that context, Asia needs to be responsible and play an important role in the process of effectively exploiting opportunities and solving great difficulties and challenges of the times.

The Deputy Prime Minister said Asia fully converges potentials and strengths to raise the level of contribution to solving humanity's challenges, becoming a model for peace, cooperation and development.

The Vietnamese leader expressed his wish that Asian countries should jointly share and realise the vision of building an international system based on rules, with the UN Charter as the centre; persistently promote multilateral cooperation, participate in reform and improve the efficiency of global governance institutions such as WTO, IMF, WB...; as well as strengthen exchange and coordination of stances on global governance issues.

He called on Asia to promote stronger and more drastic joint efforts and actions in addressing global challenges, striving for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as addressing new and non-traditional global challenges, such as energy security, cyber security, human security, health security...; advocate for a global approach to solving development challenges, encourage broader participation of businesses in development programmes and projects, facilitate institutional arrangements, and promote public-private partnership.

Deputy PM Quang said countries need to cooperate more closely and effectively for rapid, inclusive and sustainable development; bring into play new growth drivers, such as digital transformation, green transformation, and innovation.

Countries in the region that are more developed need to support developing countries to improve their capacity in institutions, infrastructure, human resources, technology, and governance, and cooperate in developing resilient supply chains.

He also noted the cooperation for economic development on the basis of people-centred, taking good cultural values as the foundation and considering solving difficulties and challenges as motivation for cooperation to rise stronger.

He suggested countries further promote people-to-people exchanges, connect young generations, and promote cooperation in the fields of culture, education and tourism.

He noted that the creation and consolidation of a peaceful and stable environment is a prerequisite for development in Asia and in the world.

Building strategic trust, respecting the UN Charter and international law, and settling disputes by peaceful means is a common denominator that unites countries to overcome difficulties, challenges and crises.

Regarding the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) issue, relevant parties need to strictly implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea/South China Sea (DOC) and move towards achieving a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea/South China Sea (COC) in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

At the same time, parties need to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that complicate the situation and violate the sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction of relevant countries as established by UNCLOS 1982.

Appreciating Japan's important role in efforts to elevate Asia's power, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasised that Japan takes the lead in promoting initiatives and is a key link in the economic linkage structure, regional and global value chains, is a pioneer country to promote digital transformation, green transformation, restore and ensure supply chain security, strengthen trade-investment cooperation and respond to development challenges.

The Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that Việt Nam attaches great importance to promoting relations with partners, including the extensive strategic partnership between Việt Nam and Japan.

He said he believes that Việt Nam and Japan will become a model of the partnership for development on the basis of effective implementation of frameworks, and cooperation projects in investment-trade, science and technology, labour, human resource training, climate change response, green growth, new generation ODA, strategic infrastructure, food security and energy transition.

He suggested that Japanese businesses continue to contribute to making bilateral economic trade and investment relations deeper, more effective and more sustainable.

Also at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Quang shared Việt Nam's development goals, orientations, viewpoints and priorities.

He stressed Việt Nam persists in implementing the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification, being a good friend, a reliable partner and an active and responsible member of the international community.

He said Việt Nam is committed to making its best contribution to peace, cooperation, stability and prosperous development in Asia and around the world.

The Future of Asia, held by Nikkei every year since 1995 is an international gathering where political, economic, and academic leaders from the Asia-Pacific region offer their opinions frankly and freely on regional issues and the role of Asia in the world. 

With the theme “Leveraging Asia’s power to confront global challenges”, this year’s event attracted the participation of heads of state and leaders of many Asian countries, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Thailand, along with nearly 600 delegates who are representatives of governments, research institutions, scholars and businesses inside and outside the region. — VNS