Ambassadors forum May 2018: Singaporean Ambassador Catherine Wong

On May 9th, 2018, within the framework of the 2018 Ambassadors Forum, Singaporean Ambassador Catherine Wong had a talk at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam on the topic: "Singapore and the role of ASEAN Chairman in 2018". The talk was attended by Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam Ping Kitnikone, Filipino Ambassador to Vietnam Noel Eugene Eusebio M. Servigon, Ms. Doan Hai Hong, Provisional Representative of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, representatives of 8 Diplomatic delegations in Hanoi (Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, and Sweden), representatives of the ASEAN Department and numerous researchers, lecturers and students of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.

According to Ambassador Catherine Wong, the world’s current situation was facing many new changes and challenges: (i) The rise of India and China; (ii) The "America First" policy of US President Donal Trump; (iii) Non-traditional security issues such as climate change, cybercrime; (iv) Iran and Syria issue, etc. None of the countries can unilaterally handle the above issues, therefore the consensus and contributions of all countries are necessary. As a large regional organization, ASEAN had to maintain its role as the regional central organization and had to join in addressing the challenges facing the region. As the chair of ASEAN in 2018, Singapore hoped to maintain the unity of ASEAN but at the same time adjust to adapt to the considerable changes happening in the region and over the world.

After Ambassador Catherine Wong's presentation, many questions and comments were raised from the Ambassadors, researchers, and students. After an hour and a half of questions and answers, the talk ended successfully.