On the afternoon of June 9, at the Presidential Palace, General Secretary and President To Lam received the heads of delegations of countries, experts, scholars and representatives of international organizations to Vietnam to attend the ASEAN Future Forum 2026.
On behalf of the Party and State leaders of Vietnam, General Secretary and President To Lam warmly welcomed international delegates to Hanoi to attend AFF 2026; expressed his pleasure that the Forum continues to receive widespread attention and response from member countries, ASEAN partners and international friends.
The General Secretary and President affirmed that the large presence of delegates shows a common concern for the future of ASEAN as well as the desire to exchange, share ideas and contribute to the process of shaping the development direction of the region in the new period.
Highly appreciating the heartfelt and responsible opinions and proposals shared at the forum, the General Secretary and President emphasized that ASEAN is in the first year of implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 with many expectations and new development opportunities.
In the context of the world and regional situation continuing to develop rapidly, complicatedly and unpredictablely, ASEAN's priority is to maintain a peaceful and stable environment for development, improve competitiveness, strengthen the resilience of the economy and ensure people's lives.
The General Secretary and President said that the achievements made in the past nearly six decades have affirmed the sustainable value of ASEAN, which is solidarity, consensus, central role and inclusive approach.
On that basis, ASEAN needs to continue to innovate its thinking and operating methods, improve adaptive capacity, enhance the effectiveness of implementing common commitments, and better meet development requirements in the new period. According to the General Secretary and President, ASEAN's success must first be measured by the practical benefits it brings to people and businesses in the region.
Sharing about the ASEAN Future Forum initiative, the General Secretary and President affirmed that peace, stability and sustainable development can only be nurtured on the basis of solidarity, dialogue, building trust and mutually beneficial cooperation.
This is also the spirit and motivation for Vietnam to initiate the ASEAN Future Forum, with the desire to create more an open, substantive and forward-looking dialogue space; contributing to supplementing ASEAN's existing cooperation processes, while promoting innovative thinking and joint actions for the development of the region.
Representatives of delegations attending AFF 2026 highly appreciated Vietnam's initiative to organize the ASEAN Future Forum; said that AFF has become a prestigious, open, inclusive and constructive forum, making positive contributions to the process of planning ASEAN's long-term development orientations.
Delegates also expressed high appreciation for Vietnam's foreign policy, expressed through the consistent statements of the General Secretary and President at the Shangri-La Dialogue, at Thanh Hoa University, and at the ASEAN Secretariat (in 2025), demonstrating Vietnam's proactive and active contributions to peace, dialogue and regional cooperation.
