This is the first major high-level multilateral foreign affairs event hosted by Vietnam after the success of the 14th Party Congress, the 16th National Assembly election and the process of consolidating key leadership positions of the Party and State.
The ASEAN Future Forum 2026 is expected to gather senior Vietnamese leaders, leaders of some ASEAN member countries, and representatives of international organizations, research institutes, businesses and localities at home and abroad.
According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of attending the forum, at the invitation of Politburo Member, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone will pay an official visit to Vietnam from June 7-9, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet will pay an official visit to Vietnam from June 8-9, and Timor-Leste Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao will pay an official visit to Vietnam from June 7-10.
The ASEAN Future Forum is an initiative of the Vietnamese Government announced at the ASEAN Summit in 2023 to create a framework for ASEAN leaders, partners, scholars, and international businesses to exchange and propose initiatives to contribute to the process of shaping ASEAN's future, and at the same time support ASEAN's official processes.
After two sessions in 2024 and 2025, the ASEAN Future Forum has gradually affirmed its role as an open forum, towards the future and received widespread attention and support from ASEAN countries as well as the international community. Many contents and initiatives discussed at the forum have been included in documents of ASEAN Summits in the same year.
Before the ASEAN Futures Forum 2026, on June 8, many launching activities will take place such as the Southeast Asian Political Parties Dialogue, the ASEAN City Leaders' Meeting, the Roundtable on the Mekong Subregion, the Southeast Asian Youth Roundtable and the Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance. On the same evening, the forum's official reception will take place.
The opening session of the ASEAN Future Forum 2026 is scheduled to take place on the morning of June 9 in Hanoi with the participation of key leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam and senior leaders of some ASEAN countries. Plenary sessions during the day will focus on discussing ASEAN resilience and solidarity, promoting conflict prevention initiatives and AI applications in ASEAN.
The second working day of the ASEAN Futures Forum, June 10, will feature plenary sessions on energy security, development models, and a number of other thematic sessions before closing in the afternoon of the same day.
At the international press conference introducing the ASEAN Future Forum 2026 that just took place, Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cuong emphasized that the theme of the ASEAN Future Forum 2026 is a timely theme and directly reflects ASEAN's current priorities. Peace is a prerequisite for sustainable development. In the context of the world having many fluctuations and challenges as it is today, consolidating peace and stability is the central task of ASEAN. Meanwhile, prosperity is a common goal of all nations, requiring ASEAN to strengthen economic cooperation, connectivity and innovation.
In particular, the "people-centered" element is the core spirit of the ASEAN Community. All ASEAN activities must be aimed at the interests of the people, improving people's lives so that no one is left behind. Therefore, this year's theme is the harmonious combination of core values and ASEAN's development goals in the future.
Most recently, at the regular press conference of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the afternoon of June 4, Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said that the contents exchanged at the ASEAN Future Forum 2026 will contribute more perspectives, initiatives and policy recommendations to serve the implementation process of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, towards the goal of building a peaceful, cohesive, prosperous, self-reliant, sustainable ASEAN with the people at the center. Currently, Vietnam is actively coordinating with ASEAN countries and partners to prepare for the forum.
