Vietnam has, since its entry to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July 1995, actively participated in the grouping's activities, and made important contribution to all of its cooperative spheres.
"Vietnam has played an important role in defining cooperation orientations and major policies of ASEAN like the construction of the 2020 Vision, Hanoi Action Plan, Hanoi Declaration on Narrowing the Development Gap, Bali Concord II, and Vientiane Action Plan," Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Vietnam has successfully hosted many important meetings, and made specific contributions in four major cooperative spheres of the regional grouping: politics and security, economy, culture and society and external relations.
Concerning politics and security, Vietnam and other members are constructing the ASEAN security community to create a peaceful and security environment for development in the region by bringing into play the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Treaty, developing the ASEAN Regional Forum in the right way, and implementing the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea (COC).
As goals of the Common Effective Preferential Tariffs for ASEAN Free Trade Area (CEPT-AFTA) have been basically attained, "Vietnam and other member countries are actively building the ASEAN economic community to create a common market and a unified production base with free movement of goods, services, investment, capital and labor to enhance competitiveness and foster the common prosperity of the whole region," Dung said.
Vietnam attaches importance to cooperative programs which help narrow development gaps among the members, including the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), the Greater Mekong Sub- regional cooperation program, and the West-East Economic Corridor. Through the cooperation, trade and investment relations between Vietnam and other ASEAN members have expanded and deepened considerably, he noted.
Regarding social and cultural issues, Vietnam has actively taken part in all cooperative activities in various fields, including communication, healthcare, education, labor, rural development, poverty reduction, and natural disaster management. The ASEAN cultural and social community being built by Vietnam and other members will improve life quality of people, ensure social fair, maintain cultural identities, protect environment and deal with globalization impacts.
Also, Vietnam has helped facilitate the dialogue relations between the ASEAN and outside partners, especially economic cooperation, negotiation and implementation of deals about bilateral free trade areas between ASEAN and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, he said.
"Vietnam has also actively participated in and fostered the dynamic development of processes between the ASEAN and East Asian countries, including China, Japan and South Korea, and the East Asian Summit," he said.
Vietnam will be more active in building a stronger and closer ASEAN, and accelerating cooperation between the block and its partners for stability, development and prosperity of all nations, the prime minister said, noting that his country's membership led to the admission of Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia to the block.
The ASEAN will turn 40 on Aug. 8, 2007. Its 10 members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Source: Xinhua
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