EAS participating countries share joint mission to accelerate peace

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (first from left) and leaders from other ASEAN member States and eight dialogue partners, namely China, Russia, India, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the United States of America to the 13th East Asia Summit in Singapore on November 15, 2018. Photo: VGP

The Government chief made the remarks at the 13^th EAS in Singapore on November 15.

PM Phuc called for continued dialogues, confidence building and support for joint efforts to uphold international law, formulate and abide by behavior norms in the region.

He also called for avoiding unilateral actions and supporting peaceful settlement of differences.

A stable and sustainably peaceful environment is the prerequisite for cooperation and development and it can only be achieved with collective responsibility of all, including EAS participating countries, PM Phuc emphasized.

For the East Sea, PM Phuc underlined that ASEAN has always given prominence to self-restraint, strengthening dialogues and confidence building, non-militarization, avoidance of use or threat of force, and settlement of all disputes and differences through peaceful means on the basis of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

He called on countries to take concrete actions to back the above ASEAN’s principles.

At the summit, the leaders approved five high-level statements on combating marine plastic debris; ASEAN smart cities; deepening cooperation in the security of information and communications technologies and of digital economy; countering the threat of foreign terrorist fighters and returnees; and safe and secure use, storage and transport of nuclear and other radioactive materials./.

By Huong Giang