The 8th meeting of the Council of ASEAN Chief Justices (CACJ) took place via videoconference on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

HÀ NỘI — The 8th meeting of the Council of ASEAN Chief Justices (CACJ) took place via videoconference on Thursday.

Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court of Việt Nam Nguyễn Hoà Bình said that since officially becoming an entity of ASEAN connectivity, the CACJ has made unceasing efforts to perfect its structure, increase activities, and boost interaction with other entities and organisations inside and outside of the region, to further promote democracy, the efficiency of state management, the enforcement of law-governed state principles, and peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.

Judicial and legal systems in the bloc integrating with one another based on widely-recognised common standards has helped reduce law enforcement costs, facilitated business, migration and residency of Southeast Asian enterprises and people, enhanced judicial systems’ transparency and predictability, consolidated investor trust, and created the opportunity for fair capital access and competition among countries, he stressed.

CACJ has become an important cooperation channel, he went on, helping member courts share information and experience, boost mutual understanding, and strengthen cooperative ties. It has also helped complete an ASEAN Community of unity in diversity.

Participating in CACJ reflects the growing mutual understanding among judicial systems in ASEAN and the willingness to enhance both multilateral and bilateral cooperation among courts of member nations, Bình said.

At their first-ever online meeting, chief justices discussed ways to realise ideas and initiatives identified at previous events. They also looked into the regional context amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges facing CACJ and the courts of members, along with solutions to those problems. — VNS