The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that on the morning of October 9, 2024, the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and related conferences were solemnly opened at the National Convention Center, Vientiane, Laos. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh led a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to attend the opening ceremony.
Immediately after the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, together with leaders of ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste, attended the plenary session of the ASEAN Summit, discussing cooperation contents within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its partners.
Speaking at the conference, the Prime Minister expressed his gratitude for the sharing and support of ASEAN countries in overcoming the consequences of super typhoon Yagi in countries, including Vietnam. The Prime Minister emphasized that solidarity and mutual love, “one for all, all for one” continue to be the core values and source of strength of ASEAN.
In the context of an increasingly volatile world, the Prime Minister commented that overall there is peace, but locally there is war; overall there is reconciliation, but locally there is tension; overall there is stability, but locally there is conflict.
In such a challenging context, ASEAN continues to be a bright spot in the global economy, a bridge of dialogue and cooperation, and the focal point of integration and linkage processes in the region. Frameworks on digital economy, blue economy, circular economy, etc. are gradually shaping new cooperation content in the region.
Expressing agreement with the ASEAN 2024 theme of “Promoting Connectivity and Resilience”, the Prime Minister suggested that more than ever, ASEAN needs to take self-reliance as the foundation to reach new heights, take connectivity as the focus to make breakthroughs, and take innovation as the driving force to pioneer and lead.
On that basis, the Prime Minister shared important orientations for ASEAN in the coming time.
Firstly, self-reliance and strategic autonomy are the foundation for ASEAN to stand firm in the face of all fluctuations and overcome all challenges.
Accordingly, ASEAN needs to strengthen solidarity and unity in diversity, adhere to standards of conduct and persist in ASEAN's principled stance on international and regional issues.
ASEAN needs to enhance its self-reliance capacity and promote endogenous resources to maintain internal strategic stability and respond promptly to external risks.
The Prime Minister also emphasized that ASEAN needs to maintain its central, independent, balanced role and behave principledly in implementing foreign relations, expanding and diversifying relations with partners on the basis of ensuring effectiveness, substance and mutual benefit.
Second, promoting internal connectivity combined with external connectivity, public-private connectivity, and multi-sectoral connectivity, focusing on infrastructure, institutional, and human connectivity, is a strategic breakthrough for ASEAN.
Accordingly, ASEAN needs to promote investment in high-quality infrastructure projects, especially “hard” and “soft” strategic infrastructure, and encourage the participation of third parties and external partners.
ASEAN needs to promote institutional harmonization and facilitate trade in goods, services and investment. ASEAN needs to promote people-to-people connectivity and people-to-people exchanges, and further facilitate the movement of people, businesses and workers.
Third, innovation is the main driving force and driving force for ASEAN to catch up, progress together and surpass the region and the world.
Accordingly, ASEAN needs to promote cooperation in developing an innovation ecosystem, developing regional digital cooperation frameworks, along with developing governance criteria for emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.
ASEAN needs to promote the human factor as the center, subject, goal, resource and driving force of innovation, and pay attention to enhancing educational cooperation and training high-quality human resources to meet the requirements of the new era.
