VN attends 30th ASEAN – Australia Forum

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung and a Vietnamese delegation attended the 30th ASEAN – Australia Forum held in Canberra, Australia from May 22-23

Speaking at the event, the Vietnamese Deputy Minister affirmed that Viet Nam highly values ASEAN-Australia strategic partnership and the outcomes of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit as well as highlighted the importance of connectivity within ASEAN, and between ASEAN and broader regions, as well as the significance of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)’s strategy to ASEAN development.

He welcomed the Australian Government and its businesses to actively assist ASEAN in promoting hard and soft infrastructure connectivity in the region and the GMS. 

Regarding regional and global issues, Mr. Dung expressed his hope that ASEAN and Australia would enhance effective collaboration in ASEAN-chaired frameworks and forums, towards building an open, transparent and rules-based regional architecture. 

The Deputy FM referred to ASEAN’s consistent stance on the East Sea issue that was reaffirmed by their leaders during the 32nd ASEAN Summit, expecting that Australia would continue upholding its active role and make constructive and responsible contributions to dealing with challenges to peace and stability in the region. 

At the forum, issues related to the Korean Peninsula, the East Sea and Rakhine state in Myanmar and other trans-national security challenges were discussed. 

On future orientations, they agreed to foster coordination across the pillars of politics-security, economy-trade-investment, socio-culture and people-to-people exchange. 

Director-General and SOM Leader, Myanmar Myint Thu and Deputy Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Richard Maude co-chaired the forum. 

By Hoang Ha