On the afternoon of February 25, the opening session of the ASEAN Future Forum 2025 took place in Hanoi. Speaking at the forum, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the new context poses many difficult problems but at the same time opens up rare opportunities for ASEAN to affirm its position and make breakthroughs and rise up. ASEAN needs solidarity, unity, unity and needs to have a breakthrough thinking, a sharp strategy, a feasible roadmap, focused resources and drastic action.
The Prime Minister proposed 3 strategic priorities and 3 action breakthroughs for ASEAN. The three strategic priorities include: First, strengthening ASEAN's strategic autonomy through strengthening ASEAN's solidarity and central role.
Second, building ASEAN to be self-reliant in economy, through innovating traditional growth drivers while promoting new growth drivers, especially science and technology, innovation and digital transformation.
The third strategic priority is to maintain the value and identity of ASEAN, as a spirit of consensus, harmony, unity in diversity and respect for differences.
Regarding ASEAN's 3 action breakthroughs, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pointed out that, first of all, ASEAN needs to build a more flexible, effective, and responsible decision-making mechanism, ensuring both the principle of consensus and a specific mechanism for strategic initiatives and creating breakthroughs.
Second, promote public-private cooperation to mobilize all resources for regional development, especially key projects, encourage the increasingly large participation of the private sector in total social investment, further eliminate barriers and restrictions on traditional trade, develop a smart and safe digital economic environment to serve trade and investment in ASEAN.
Third, further strengthen ASEAN connectivity, especially in infrastructure connectivity, people-to-people exchanges and harmonization of open institutions, making efforts to further shorten the decision-making process and simplify administrative procedures in each ASEAN country to effectively implement cooperation activities.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared that three decades of accompanying ASEAN have affirmed Vietnam's correct strategic vision. ASEAN has become a strategic space and a natural development environment for Vietnam. Vietnam has always been an active and responsible member in strengthening solidarity, central role and promoting sustainable development of ASEAN.
"The Vietnamese language has a saying: "A tree cannot be young/ Three trees together make a high mountain". This is even more true in the current context when ASEAN and Vietnam are facing a new historical starting point, both towards aspirational goals. Vietnam strongly believes in the solidarity, unity, spirit of cooperation, vitality and strategic value of ASEAN. We are committed to being a proactive, active, responsible member in building a united, inclusive, and self-reliant ASEAN community to jointly realize the ASEAN vision to 2045 for the benefit of all people in the region - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared.
Speaking at the opening session, President of Timor Leste Jose Ramos-Horta shared his memories of ASEAN's "special" development journey, emphasizing that ASEAN is the glue that connects cultures and languages as well as always plays a decisive role in maintaining peace and stability in friendly cooperation.
ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn highly appreciated Vietnam's efforts in organizing the ASEAN Future Forum. According to the General Secretary, with geographical and historical characteristics, ASEAN is always the center of initiatives and competition between great powers. This is an opportunity for the bloc to take advantage of diplomatic capacity and soft power. The condition is that member states must unite with that common goal.
