VN hosts 34th ASEAN-Japan Forum

The 34th ASEAN-Japan Forum

At the annual forum, delegates highlighted the strong developments in bilateral all-around cooperation over recent times, which, they said, have contributed significantly to peace, security and stability in the region.

ASEAN member nations spoke highly of Japan’s active participation in efforts to promote dialogue, cooperation and trust building in the region, through the forums hosted by ASEAN such as ASEAN 3, the East-Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum, the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus and the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum.

They thanked Japan for its support for ASEAN’s central role and solidarity, as well as its contributions to consolidating the regional architecture that is open, transparent, inclusive and rules-based.

Regarding economic cooperation, countries acknowledged the vibrant economic-trade-investment ties between ASEAN and Japan, while welcoming the signing of the first protocol amending the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement aiming to boost trade and investment links between the two sides.

The two sides agreed to continue effectively realizing the implementation plan for the Vision Statement on ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, further enhance economic-trade-investment relations, strengthen regional connectivity, develop high-quality infrastructure, and promote sustainable and sub-regional development via facilitating practical projects under the “Japan-Mekong Connectivity Initiative” framework.

Discussing international and regional issues, countries recognized recent progress on the Korean Peninsula, and welcomed the positive outcomes of the USA-DPRK Summits held in Singapore and Ha Noi.

Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung highly appreciated Japan’s role and contributions to regional peace, security and development, and agreed that the two sides should enhance cooperation in the areas of mutual concern, such as maritime cooperation and security, connectivity, sustainable development, bridging development gap, youth and people-to-people exchanges, natural disaster and climate change response, public healthcare, and cultural exchange.

He affirmed that Viet Nam, as the coordinator of the ASEAN-Japan relations, will closely coordinate with Japan and other ASEAN member countries to comprehensively accelerate and elevate the ASEAN-Japan strategic partnership, meeting interests of both sides as well as for the sake of the region and the world at large. 

By Vien Nhu