On the evening of May 8 (local time), Politburo Member, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and the high-level Vietnamese delegation left Cebu (Philippines), successfully concluding their working trip to attend the 48th ASEAN Summit from May 7-8 at the invitation of President of the Republic of the Philippines Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr, ASEAN Chairman in 2026.
Seeing off the delegation at Mactan-Cebu International Airport were Philippine National Security Advisor Eduardo Oban Jr; Governor of Cebu province Pamela Baricuatro; Mayor of Lapu Cindi King-Chan; representatives of the ASEAN Summit Organizing Committee. On the Vietnamese side were Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Lai Thai Binh; Ambassador, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to ASEAN Ton Thi Ngoc Huong; officials and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines.
Within the framework of the working trip, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung attended opening sessions, plenary sessions, closed-door meetings with leaders of ASEAN member countries and delivered important speeches, conveying the foreign policy message of the 14th Party Congress and Vietnam's views on ASEAN's priorities, making practical proposals to consolidate the process of building the ASEAN Community, contributing to strengthening ASEAN's resilience and response to fluctuations, especially the impacts of the Middle East situation, and exchanging regional and international issues of common concern.
In the plenary and closed-door meetings, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung highlighted Vietnam's proposals on how ASEAN can cope with interconnected and multi-dimensional challenges; as well as outlining 3 focuses for ASEAN in the new context.
Vietnam's proposals were welcomed and highly appreciated by ASEAN leaders for their content and timeliness. Based on Vietnam's proposals, the conference discussed and agreed to issue the ASEAN Leadership Declaration on Priority Actions to Strengthen Regional Autonomy.
Along with that, the Prime Minister also had bilateral meetings and contacts with leaders of countries and international organizations to strengthen friendly relations, enhance political trust and promote practical and effective cooperation.
At bilateral meetings and contacts with leaders of countries and international organizations, the Prime Minister emphasized prioritizing strengthening high-level delegation exchanges, consolidating political trust and effectively implementing existing cooperation frameworks; promoting the spirit of friendship, solidarity and cooperation with countries; wishing to effectively exploit new cooperation potentials in trade relations, promote ASEAN intra-regional economic cooperation, ensure food security, energy security, develop supply chains and strengthen regional infrastructure connectivity.
Prime Minister Le Minh Hung's first foreign working trip was successful in both multilateral and bilateral aspects, leaving a good impression of proactive, positive, responsible spirit and practical and effective contributions to the common work of ASEAN, as well as promoting relations with member countries to contribute to peace and development in the region and the world.
