With the “Think Community, Act Community” approach, Vietnam will continue to work closely with ASEAN state members and external partners and the international community to build a united and resilient ASEAN Community, Vietnam’s top diplomat has stated.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh speakes at the flag-hoisting ceremony to celebrate the 53rd anniversary of ASEAN’s founding in Hanoi, August 7, 2020. Photo: MOFA

“Shoulder to shoulder, we can rise above any challenges and move ASEAN forward,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh at the flag-hoisting ceremony to celebrate the 53rd anniversary of ASEAN’s founding in Hanoi Friday morning.

The ceremony drew the participation of ASEAN ambassadors, representatives of the Hanoi city government, among others. It also coincides with the 25th anniversary of Vietnam’s accession to ASEAN.

Mr. Minh highlighted that through its Community building, ASEAN enables Southeast Asia to thrive as a big family of six hundred and fifty million people with a combined GDP of US$3 trillion and as a peaceful, stable and resilient region with dynamic, vibrant economies.

He noted that the 10-member bloc is facing major, unprecedented challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and the fast changing geo-strategic landscape as well as emerging non-traditional security issues.

However, these challenges call for a more cohesive, responsive ASEAN, which retains its firm centrality in the region. “The encouraging results achieved in the first half of 2020 bear testament to the ASEAN that never wavers at any hardship.”

DPM Pham Binh Minh and participants at the flag-hoisting ceremony. Photo: MOFA

Mr. Minh noted that under Vietnam’s Chairmanship, ASEAN has taken well-coordinated measures to collectively respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, protect the health of our peoples, cushion the negative impacts on our economies, and prepare for a comprehensive recovery to emerge from the pandemic.

He tipped that ASEAN Foreign Ministers will issue the Statement on the importance of maintaining peace and stability in Southeast Asia on the ASEAN Day of August 8, 2020.

In the context of complex and growing uncertainties in the world, this statement will reaffirm ASEAN’s vision, commitments and fundamental principles to build ASEAN into a region of peace, progress and prosperity as aspired in the 1967 Bangkok Declaration, he concluded.