PM welcomes Australia's continued support for central role of ASEAN

ASEAN-Australia Informal Breakfast Summit, Singapore, November 14, 2018 - Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu

At the event, the Vietnamese PM highly spoke of the role and active contributions of Australia in the region, appraising the effective advocate and assistance of Australia for ASEAN, supposing that Australia is a long-term and reliable partner of ASEAN and the two sides have shared joint visions and interests of regional peace, stability, cooperation and development. 

Viet Nam expects Australia to continue promoting cooperation with ASEAN in its advantageous areas, including development of infrastructure and regional connectivity, management and response to climate change, sustainable use of resources in the Greater Mekong Sub-region and human resources development, he said. 

The Vietnamese leader expressed his wish that Australia will back efforts and standpoints of ASEAN in accelerating dialogues, building trust for peace, stability and security in the East Sea, highlighting the international law and common standards, peaceful addressing disputes in line with international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, preventing to militarize and launch actions to complicate the situations as well as fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and active formation of a effective and practical Code of Conduct (COC).

Leaders of ASEAN and Australian PM Scott Morrison affirmed the commitments of enhancing cooperation in prioritized areas such as cyber security, combating human trafficking, maritime security, defense cooperation, economics, climate change adaption, natural calamity management, infrastructure and Greater Mekong Sub-region cooperation, promotion of trade and investment exchanges, effective implementation of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and heading to complete the negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. 

The Australian PM stressed the importance of the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Partnership to peace, stability and prosperity in the region, backing the central role of ASEAN in the open, transparent and rule-based regional structure. 

He said to advocate the standpoints of ASEAN on maintaining peace, stability, safety and freedom of aviation and navigation in the East Sea, peacefully addressing disputes based on international law, fully implementing the DOC and making efforts in establishing the COC effectively. 

By Thuy Dung