On the afternoon of February 25, the opening session of the ASEAN Future Forum 2025 took place in Hanoi. Attending the Opening session were Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh; President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta; Head of the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Commission Nguyen Trong Nghia; Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics Nguyen Xuan Thang; Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son; Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang; ASEAN Secretary General Kim Hourn and leaders of ASEAN countries, ministries, branches, localities and enterprises.
Speaking at the forum, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed 3 strategic priorities and 3 action breakthroughs for ASEAN.
The three strategic priorities include: First, strengthening ASEAN's strategic autonomy through strengthening ASEAN's solidarity and central role.
Second, building ASEAN to be self-reliant in economy, through innovating traditional growth drivers while promoting new growth drivers, especially science and technology, innovation and digital transformation.
Third, maintain the value and identity of ASEAN, such as the spirit of consensus, harmony, unity in diversity and respect for differences.
Regarding ASEAN's 3 action breakthroughs, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pointed out that, first of all, ASEAN needs to build a more flexible, effective, and responsible decision-making mechanism, ensuring both the principle of consensus and a specific mechanism for strategic initiatives to create breakthroughs.
Second, promote public-private cooperation to mobilize all resources for regional development, especially key projects, encourage the increasingly large participation of the private sector in total social investment, further eliminate barriers and restrictions on traditional trade, develop a smart and safe digital economic environment to serve trade and investment in ASEAN.
Third, further strengthen ASEAN connectivity, especially in infrastructure connectivity and people-to-people exchanges and harmonization of open institutions, making efforts to further shorten the decision-making process and simplify administrative procedures in each ASEAN country to effectively implement cooperation activities.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared: "Three decades of accompanying ASEAN have affirmed Vietnam's correct strategic vision. ASEAN has become a strategic space and a natural development environment for Vietnam. Vietnam has always been an active and responsible member in strengthening solidarity, central role and promoting sustainable development of ASEAN".
Citing the saying "A tree cannot be small/ Three trees cannot be small", the Prime Minister said that this is even more true in the current context when ASEAN and Vietnam are facing a new historical starting point, both towards aspirational goals.
"Vietnam strongly believes in solidarity, unity, cooperation, vitality and strategic value of ASEAN" - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared.
Speaking at the opening of the forum, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son emphasized that the ASEAN Future Forum is an open, inclusive forum, a forum "of ASEAN, by ASEAN and for ASEAN", aiming to supplement the existing frameworks of ASEAN by promoting discussions with new, creative and strategic perspectives.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister hope that with increasing attention, the forum will continue to develop, becoming an annual platform that nurtures innovation, for the development of ASEAN in the future.
Also in his speech, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister said that global developments show that the world is facing a decisive turning point, in which regional organizations such as ASEAN need to further affirm their role and adaptability to ensure the stability of international regulations and standards. Solidarity, inclusion and self-reliance are key factors for ASEAN to firmly overcome the current global context.
