Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam, I warmly welcome you to Hanoi to attend the 3rd ASEAN Future Forum. I am very pleased that this year's Forum has the participation of Prime Ministers of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Timor Leste, leaders and representatives of member countries and dialogue partners of ASEAN, many international and regional organizations, scholars, and research institutes, showing common interest in the future of the region, and wishing to exchange views on the issues facing ASEAN in the new development stage.
I strongly share and agree with many of your profound opinions. ASEAN enters the first year of implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, with many new expectations and along with that are higher, more proactive, more effective and more substantive requirements. That spirit is also what I conveyed at the recent Shangri-La Forum.
With ASEAN, that spirit originates from solidarity, dialogue, trust and cooperation. That is also our starting point when initiating the ASEAN Future Forum initiative, with the desire to contribute a more open and substantive exchange channel to complement ASEAN's common cooperation processes, so that we can share, connect ideas and seek new and more practical cooperation directions for the future of the region.
On this occasion, I would like to share with you some issues:
1. The world is changing, the region must think differently
The world is entering a deep transitional phase. The three major crises of international order, development model and strategic trust we are witnessing are not happening far away, but are clearly manifested in this region itself.
Strategic competition between major countries is fiercer and expands to the foundational fields of the future such as technology, data, supply chains and new governance standards. Artificial intelligence, big data, quantum... are opening up great development opportunities, but also pose many new risks. Meanwhile, challenges related to climate, energy, water resources, population aging, fake news, information manipulation and human security are increasingly directly impacting social stability and the development capacity of each country.
Traditional development advantages no longer create the same momentum as before. Many familiar ways of doing things do not meet new requirements. Population size, resources or capital sources are still important, but competitive advantages are increasingly dependent on innovation, adaptability and readiness to new development trends.
This is a very close requirement for ASEAN. Southeast Asia is the intersection of many major movements. The region has the opportunity to attract more resources, welcome supply chain shifts, develop the digital economy, green transformation and new technology industries. But opportunities do not turn into advantages on their own. Opportunities only become advantages when the region has enough capacity to grasp, enough determination to innovate and enough bravery to maintain a stable environment for development.
Ladies and gentlemen,
2. ASEAN must maintain strategic assets and innovate operating methods.
With the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, ASEAN has clearly defined its direction in the coming decades; but this is only the starting point. The decisive factor for success, in my opinion, is that ASEAN needs to do two things at the same time. On the one hand, it must continue to preserve and promote the strategic assets that have been accumulated over many decades: Solidarity; ASEAN's central role; Principles of consensus and unity in diversity. On the other hand, it is necessary to strongly innovate "Valuative Thinking" so that those assets can be transformed into adaptive capacity, action capacity and organizational capacity.
ASEAN's strategic asset is the result of a long process of building trust, persistent dialogue, consultation, handling differences and seeking consensus between member countries. In the new period, ASEAN's central role can only be effectively promoted when ASEAN maintains solidarity, strategic autonomy, has a comprehensive approach and the capacity to coordinate and shape the common agenda of the region.
ASEAN's potential is huge, but turning that potential into real strength still requires more effort. Intra-bloc linkages need to be deeper; infrastructure, logistics, digital connectivity and energy connectivity need to be more synchronized; development gaps and technological gaps need to be narrowed; the implementation of commitments, agreements and coordination in responding to common challenges also need to be enhanced.
The world is changing very rapidly; the challenges posed to ASEAN are also very different from before. "Valuity thinking" needs to be strongly innovated through more flexible and effective operating methods to better meet new requirements. First of all, it is necessary to shift from process thinking to result thinking, to bring commitments from documents into practice. Switch from mainly consultation to more substantive coordination, so that cooperation mechanisms respond more quickly to inter-sectoral and inter-connected issues. And shift from consensus on awareness to consensus in action, so that the common voice is expressed by specific programs, specific resources and specific results.
In other words, I believe that the measure in the coming period is not only how many more documents, mechanisms or action plans ASEAN has, but more importantly, how far ASEAN's commitments go into practice, what changes are created for the region, and what benefits are brought to people, businesses and each member economy.
In the context of increasingly fierce competition today, slowing down may mean losing opportunities. Therefore, ASEAN needs to promote more strongly the spirit of proactiveness: Strategic proactiveness to identify trends early and define priorities; proactive adaptation to make good use of new trends and effectively respond to emerging challenges; proactive creation to make positive contributions to shaping regional cooperation standards and frameworks.
Ladies and gentlemen,
3. ASEAN Future Forum contributes to supporting ASEAN's cooperation processes
From the exchanges at this Forum, I believe that the ASEAN Future Forum can continue to promote its role as an open, frank and substantive exchange space on long-term regional issues. As a complementary exchange channel, the value of the Forum lies in contributing perspectives, policy materials and suggesting ideas for ASEAN's cooperation processes. In that direction, the ASEAN Future Forum may pay more attention to some of the following contents:
First, exchanges at the Forum can help early identify emerging issues and long-term trends that directly affect the future of the region. Many issues today do not appear individually but intertwine with each other: Technology transformation associated with jobs and governance; green transformation associated with energy, food and livelihoods; information space associated with social trust and operating capacity. If viewed earlier, ASEAN would have better preparation conditions.
Second, the Forum can contribute to better connections between policymakers, scholars, research institutes, and businesses. Current regional issues are increasingly complex, inter-sectoral and go beyond traditional approaches. Therefore, ASEAN processes also need more perspectives, experiences and initiatives from different channels to complement the policy planning and implementation process.
Third, the Forum can focus more on suggesting specific, highly applicable ideas. Exchanges at the ASEAN Future Forum, if well selected, can supplement perspectives, suggest directions for cooperation, or reference proposals for appropriate ASEAN processes. In which, there is promoting practical solutions, such as conflict prevention, artificial intelligence development, energy, youth cooperation and the Mekong Subregion.
In that spirit, we hope to continue to receive the attention, support and active participation of member countries, partners, scholars, research institutes and businesses. Your participation, sharing and companionship will help the ASEAN Future Forum become an increasingly useful and practical exchange channel, contributing to supplementing ASEAN processes, and at the same time contributing to fostering the spirit of dialogue, cooperation and joint action for the common future of the region.
Ladies and gentlemen,
4. Contributions of Vietnam
Since joining in 1995, Vietnam has always considered ASEAN as the central nucleus in its multilateral and diversification foreign policy. Active and responsible participation in the ASEAN Community has made an important contribution to helping Vietnam maintain a peaceful and independent environment; promote deep economic integration to develop the country and enhance its position in the international arena. Vietnam always wishes and strives to join hands with ASEAN countries to build a united, resilient, sustainable development community and maintain its central role in the regional security structure.
For its part, the major movements of the world also require Vietnam to innovate more strongly in development thinking, growth models and governance capacity. The issues posed to ASEAN are also the issues posed to Vietnam: How to both maintain peace and stability, ensure major macroeconomic balances for rapid and sustainable development; and breakthrough to improve competitiveness. Along with that, strategic solutions are needed to narrow the development gap, proactively adapt and strengthen resilience to shocks from both inside and outside.
The general spirit today is to act more drastically, deploy faster, and take practical efficiency as a measure. Right direction is important, but in the current context, going in the right direction and being slow can also miss opportunities. Therefore, Vietnam is focusing on removing bottlenecks, unlocking resources, promoting strategic infrastructure, digital infrastructure, developing high-quality human resources and creating a more favorable environment for people, businesses, and localities.
For Vietnam, development is not only an economic goal, but also a foundation to consolidate social stability and improve people's lives. This is also a similar point with the requirements being set for ASEAN in the new period.
Along with socio-economic development, Vietnam also implements foreign affairs activities in a more substantive and effective direction, both closely linked to the country's strategic goals and contributing more responsibly to peace, cooperation and sustainable development of the region.
We persistently pursue a consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, self-strengthening, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, multilateralization, diversification of foreign relations, and are a responsible member of the international community. Vietnam values relations with neighboring countries, ASEAN, important partners and traditional friends; promote deeper, more stable, reliable and sustainable cooperation frameworks; actively and responsibly participate in handling common regional and international issues.
ASEAN is always a strategic priority in Vietnam's foreign policy. We are committed to making every effort with members of the ASEAN family to maintain solidarity, promote ASEAN's central role, and uphold the rule of law, dialogue and cooperation.
In that spirit, Vietnam wishes to make better contributions to practical cooperation directions of ASEAN as well as between ASEAN and partners in the coming period, especially promoting strategic connectivity, green transformation, digital transformation, human resource development and improving capacity to respond to common challenges. These are all areas directly related to the development of each country, people's lives and the common resilience of the region.
We understand that contributing to ASEAN must first start by doing better in our work, and at the same time being more proactive and responsible in common tasks. With that spirit, Vietnam hopes that its renovation and development process will bring about a more dynamic and active "Vietnam", more effective participation, more practical contributions and together with ASEAN countries building a more united, resilient and more cohesive Community with the people.
After nearly 6 decades, ASEAN has built a solid foundation of cooperation and an open network of links. Our mission is to turn those valuable foundations into stronger and more effective action capabilities.
I believe that with the spirit of solidarity, innovation and action, ASEAN will continue to be a dynamic, resilient and reliable development space in the region and in the world, bringing practical benefits to the people of each country.
Thank you very much to you and your friends".
