Central city hosts first ASEAN meetings to kick-start VN’s year of chairmanship
VGP – Foreign Ministers of ASEAN member countries gathered today in the port city of Đà Nẵng, Central Việt Nam, for the first AMM Retreat since the country took over the ASEAN Chairmanship.
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Đà Nẵng - the easternmost city of the East-West Economic Corridor - is entitled to host first series of ASEAN meetings on January 13-14, 2010 |
The high delegation started their journey with a flight from Bangkok to Savannakhet, Laos, from where they joined a convoy of cars to the Lao Bảo Border gate, passing Việt Nam’s central provinces of Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên-Huế before reaching Đà Nẵng.
The purpose of the tour is to promote the status of the East-West Economic Corridor - one of the key ASEAN projects.
The retreat is expected to focus on ASEAN connectivity, among other issues. The ASEAN Leaders, during the 15th ASEAN Summit in Thailand in October 2009, had discussed the concept of ASEAN Connectivity and recognized that enhancing intra-regional connectivity would promote ASEAN centrality in the regional architecture, facilitate the building of an ASEAN Community and serve as a foundation for a more enhanced East Asian connectivity.
Central to the promotion of ASEAN Connectivity are the development of physical infrastructure and multimodal transportation, ASEAN leaders agreed.
Two more meetings are also scheduled to be held this time, namely the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) Council meeting and a Special Meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC).
By Hải Minh
