ASEAN and Australian heads of states at the 27th ASEAN-Japan Summit held in Laos on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

VIENTIANE — Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Thursday applauded the success of the commemorative summit marking the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN-Japan relations in December 2023, which he described as a historic milestone heralding a new era of the bilateral cooperation.

At the 27th ASEAN-Japan Summit in Vientiane, Laos, PM Chính stressed that economic, trade, and investment cooperation should remain the key impetus while the connectivity of the two sides’ economies should be enhanced.

PM Chính encouraged Japanese businesses to invest more in ASEAN and called on the Northeast Asian nation to increase assistance for ASEAN firms to engage in its businesses’ supply chains, develop supporting industries, and nurture skilled workforces.

Besides, the Vietnamese PM said, it is necessary to promote new growth drivers which are emerging areas such as digital transformation, semiconductors, cloud computing, Internet of Things, energy transition, green economy, circular economy, and smart agriculture.

To create a future of resilient and sustainable development and boost response to climate change and disasters, PM Chính suggested Japan continue cooperating with and assisting ASEAN and Mekong sub-region countries to cope with climate change, step up energy transition, and realise the commitment to greenhouse gas emissions reduction, including via the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC).

He said that the two sides should strengthen strategic coordination for regional peace, security, and stability. Given this, he asked Japan to continue supporting ASEAN’s common stance on the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) issue, which is to peacefully resolve disputes, strive to finalise a practical and effective Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and work towards building the East Sea into a sea of peace, stability, cooperation, and sustainable development.

At the summit, participating leaders pledged to keep working closely to implement the commitments, initiatives, and outcomes of the commemorative summit, including the joint vision statement and its implementation plan.

In particular, ASEAN and Japan will push ahead with collaboration in economy, trade, investment, supply chain consolidation, infrastructure connectivity, national defence, maritime security, transnational crime combat, cybersecurity, along with natural disaster management and response. They will also give high priority to the cooperation in science - technology, innovation, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, green infrastructure, e-vehicle ecosystem, energy, climate change response, people-to-people exchanges, and tourism.

Stressing the importance of the ASEAN-Japan comprehensive strategic partnership, Japanese PM Ishiba Shigeru affirmed his country’s commitment to continue enhancing cooperation with and support for the bloc to building an ASEAN Community of solidarity, stronger connectivity, and narrowed development gap. — VNS