ID :
13845
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 21:56
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/13845
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Vietnam further promotes ASEAN cooperation, Deputy PM
Hanoi (VNA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem has affirmed that Vietnam will continue promoting ASEAN cooperation with a proactive and responsible spirit, thus making further contributions to the association's development and for peace, stability and development in the region.
Deputy PM Khiem made the statement in an interview to Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondents just after the close of the 41 st ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting and other conferences in Singapore.
"Vietnam has actively and fully participated in the ASEAN cooperation activities over the past 13 years and made important contributions to the success of the association," he said, underlining the country's role in the compilation of the ASEAN Charter and master plans to build three pillars of the ASEAN Community.
Vietnam is a nation that put forward a proposal to build the third pillar - the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, and nation hasalso actively joined other ASEAN members in mapping out and implementing the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) in order to narrow the development gap between old and new members of the association, he said.
Khiem said the first phase (2001-2008) of the IAI Work Plan has to date been completed. Vietnam , as Chair of the IAI Task Group, has actively coordinated with other countries to continue drafting the second phase of the action plan which will focus on developing human resources and infrastructure and strengthening national capacity and economic alliance.
The draft will be submitted to the 14 th ASEAN Summit.
In addition, Vietnam, together with other ASEAN countries, has actively mobilised resources from the private sector, dialogue partners and international financial organisations for the implementation of development objectives and projects with a view to narrowing the development gap.
He went on to say that Vietnam has proposed ASEAN consider the building of an overall strategy and specific measures in order to ensure sufficient resources for ASEAN long-term and sustainable objectives.
Since it joined ASEAN, Vietnam has well performed its role as a coordinator of the relationships between ASEAN and Russia, the US,Japan, Australia and Canada, helping boost the relationships both on scale and quality.
In the coming time, Vietnam will actively push the implementation of signed cooperation agreements between ASEAN and Canada in particular and the dialogue countries in general, Khiem said.
The country will also coordinate with ASEAN and the dialogue countries to speed up the negotiation on building free trade areas in order to facilitate and boost ASEAN countries' integration into international trade as well as strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual benefits, especially in addressing global issues, thus making more contributions to maintaining peace, security and development in Southeast Asia, Asia-Pacific and the world as well.
Regarding ASEAN member countries' plans to prepare for the ASEAN Charter that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2009, Deputy PM Khiem said that seven ASEAN members have ratified the Charter and the three remaining members - Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand - pledged to ratify the Charter before the 14 th ASEAN Summit.
At the just-concluded conference, ASEAN Foreign Ministers adopted a declaration on the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and affirmed all member countries' commitment to speed up the completion of the ratification and preparation for the Charter to become effective, the deputy PM said.
He went on to say that ASEAN Foreign Ministers approved a regulation on the operation of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN in Jakarta which is expected to be operational as of Jan. 1, 2009. They also adopted the Terms of Reference of the High-Level Panel on an ASEAN human rights body and the High-Level Legal Experts' Group on the compilation of documents about the dispute settlement mechanisms and legal personality ofASEAN.
According to the deputy PM, ASEAN also readjusted the schedule for the Chair of the ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) to suit the time when the ASEAN Charter takes effect and merged the ASEAN Chairmanship at all cooperation channels for better coordination of ASEAN cooperation activities in various fields.
Deputy PM Khiem made the statement in an interview to Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondents just after the close of the 41 st ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting and other conferences in Singapore.
"Vietnam has actively and fully participated in the ASEAN cooperation activities over the past 13 years and made important contributions to the success of the association," he said, underlining the country's role in the compilation of the ASEAN Charter and master plans to build three pillars of the ASEAN Community.
Vietnam is a nation that put forward a proposal to build the third pillar - the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, and nation hasalso actively joined other ASEAN members in mapping out and implementing the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) in order to narrow the development gap between old and new members of the association, he said.
Khiem said the first phase (2001-2008) of the IAI Work Plan has to date been completed. Vietnam , as Chair of the IAI Task Group, has actively coordinated with other countries to continue drafting the second phase of the action plan which will focus on developing human resources and infrastructure and strengthening national capacity and economic alliance.
The draft will be submitted to the 14 th ASEAN Summit.
In addition, Vietnam, together with other ASEAN countries, has actively mobilised resources from the private sector, dialogue partners and international financial organisations for the implementation of development objectives and projects with a view to narrowing the development gap.
He went on to say that Vietnam has proposed ASEAN consider the building of an overall strategy and specific measures in order to ensure sufficient resources for ASEAN long-term and sustainable objectives.
Since it joined ASEAN, Vietnam has well performed its role as a coordinator of the relationships between ASEAN and Russia, the US,Japan, Australia and Canada, helping boost the relationships both on scale and quality.
In the coming time, Vietnam will actively push the implementation of signed cooperation agreements between ASEAN and Canada in particular and the dialogue countries in general, Khiem said.
The country will also coordinate with ASEAN and the dialogue countries to speed up the negotiation on building free trade areas in order to facilitate and boost ASEAN countries' integration into international trade as well as strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual benefits, especially in addressing global issues, thus making more contributions to maintaining peace, security and development in Southeast Asia, Asia-Pacific and the world as well.
Regarding ASEAN member countries' plans to prepare for the ASEAN Charter that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2009, Deputy PM Khiem said that seven ASEAN members have ratified the Charter and the three remaining members - Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand - pledged to ratify the Charter before the 14 th ASEAN Summit.
At the just-concluded conference, ASEAN Foreign Ministers adopted a declaration on the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and affirmed all member countries' commitment to speed up the completion of the ratification and preparation for the Charter to become effective, the deputy PM said.
He went on to say that ASEAN Foreign Ministers approved a regulation on the operation of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN in Jakarta which is expected to be operational as of Jan. 1, 2009. They also adopted the Terms of Reference of the High-Level Panel on an ASEAN human rights body and the High-Level Legal Experts' Group on the compilation of documents about the dispute settlement mechanisms and legal personality ofASEAN.
According to the deputy PM, ASEAN also readjusted the schedule for the Chair of the ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) to suit the time when the ASEAN Charter takes effect and merged the ASEAN Chairmanship at all cooperation channels for better coordination of ASEAN cooperation activities in various fields.
