Vietnam attends ASEAN SOM and related meetings in Manila

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung led a Vietnamese delegation to the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), and other related meetings, held in Manila, the Philippines, on August 3-4.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung led a Vietnamese delegation to the ASEAN SOM. (Credit: VNA)

At the event, senior officials of ASEAN reviewed the implementation of the master plan for the building of the ASEAN Politics-Security Community and a number of documents such as the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia, the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ), while also updating the ASEAN Charter.

They agreed on the need to exert greater efforts to build a community of solidarity and unity with important contributions to peace, security and prosperity in the region.

The officials also agreed on the agenda and important documents to be submitted to the ministerial meetings, including a joint statement of the 50thASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-50), and a declaration of the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN.

At the SOM for the ASEAN and it’s partners, participants prepared the agenda for the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference with 10 partners, the East Asia Summit, and the ASEAN Plus Three Ministerial Meeting, as well as activities to mark the establishment of relations between ASEAN and India, Canada, the European Union and the US.

They also completed various documents to be submitted to the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, including the working plan for the 2018-2022 period, within the ASEAN-Japan, ASEAN-EU and ASEAN Plus Three cooperation frameworks.

The officials concurred to propose that EAS foreign ministers turn maritime cooperation into a priority in the new action programme.

As the coordinator for the ASEAN-India relations, Vietnam actively contributed to building the theme and documents of the upcoming summit commemorating the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-India ties in January 2018, while accelerating important cooperation projects and defining the strategy for the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the formation of the AEAN-India Centre.

On August 4, Deputy FM Dung also attended the SEANFWZ Commission Meeting and a meeting with representatives of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

At the SEANFWZ Commission Meeting, participants reviewed the progress of the action plan on strengthening the implementation of the SEANWFZ in 2013-2017, while agreeing to extend the plan for another five years from 2018-2022, in order to ensure the continuance of many of the cooperation activities.

They also discussed the necessary measures to hasten the States owning nuclear weapons to join the treaty.

At the meeting with AICHR representatives, participants lauded the outcomes of the commission’s working plan for the 2016-2020 period, stressing the comprehensive approach and the promotion of disciplinary coordination to strengthen the efficiency of affiliation in human rights observation in the region, practically contributing to the construction of the people-centred ASEAN Community.

On the fringes of the meetings, Deputy FM Dung met the heads of the Chinese, US, Australian, New Zealand and Philippine delegations.

As scheduled, the 50th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting will open in Manila on August 5.

(Source: NDO)