The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that on the morning of May 26, 2025, at the Kuala Lumpur National Convention Center, Malaysia, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh led a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to attend the plenary session of the 46th ASEAN Summit.
At the meeting, ASEAN leaders unanimously approved the document ASEAN 2045: Our common future, including the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and Political - Security, Economic, Cultural - Social and Connecting strategies.
Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his confidence that as ASEAN Chair, Malaysia will "steer" ASEAN to overcome difficulties and challenges.
The Prime Minister said that the world is witnessing many unpredictable and increasing fluctuations, leading to political polarization, economic division, institutional decentralization and development differentiation.
In that context, ASEAN needs to strongly promote the "five more": More solidarity to create collective strength; More self-reliance to master fate; More proactiveness to shape the game; More coverage to be a common home and more sustainability for future generations.
The Prime Minister highly agreed with the ASEAN document 2045 and proposed 3 key cooperation focuses in the coming time.
First, ASEAN reshapes the development thinking towards inclusive, innovative and sustainable. The Prime Minister proposed to study and include sustainability as a criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of implementing cooperation strategies, based on three pillars: green economy, inclusive society and smart governance.
At the same time, it is necessary to mobilize public and private resources to promote digital transformation, science and technology and develop regional initiatives, inspiring partners to participate.
Second, ASEAN needs to expand its connections beyond the region, diversify products, markets and supply chains. The Prime Minister welcomed the replication of the model of the ASEAN Summit - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and ASEAN-GCC-China, expanding cooperation with the South American Common Market and the Pacific Alliance; suggested ASEAN promote a collective voice, support free, fair, inclusive trade and promote multilateralism.
Timor-Leste's official membership will contribute to enhancing ASEAN's self-reliance, coverage and sustainability.
Third, ASEAN should maintain its central role and enhance regional self-reliance capacity. The Prime Minister emphasized that success depends on the ability to ensure an independent and autonomous strategic space in implementing policy making.
In the face of the increase in cross-national crime, the Prime Minister announced Vietnam's proposal to develop an ASEAN Declaration on improving the effectiveness of cooperation in tracking and arresting wanted criminals.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh believes that with common confidence and vision, ASEAN will overcome all fluctuations and continue to develop strongly. Vietnam is committed to being a responsible, active and proactive member, working with ASEAN to create a Community that is more united, more self-reliant, more proactive, more inclusive and more sustainable.
