International symposium “Vietnam - ASEAN: 25 year journey and the way forward”

     Attending the seminar were former senior leaders of the Party and State; senior government’s officials; representatives of ministries, departments and branches; top experts, veteran researchers on ASEAN from Vietnam and the region; representatives of Embassies of ASEAN countries and partners; representatives of regional and international organizations in Hanoi; together with numerous domestic and foreign press agencies.

     There was, notably, the attendance of former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Dy Nien, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, Former Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty M. Natelegawa, Laos’ Former ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting Leader (SOM) Bounkert Sangsomsak, ASEAN’s Former Secretary General Le Luong Minh, ASEAN’s secretary General Lim Jock Hoi and Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan, etc.

     Delivering his opening speech, Deputy Prime Minister- Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh emphasized that after a quarter of a century, Vietnam has associated with ASEAN and ASEAN has become a family of brothers that Vietnam is honored to be a member of.

     At session 1, namely “Vietnam- ASEAN: A Quarter Century Journey”, which was run by Dr. Nguyen Hung Son, Deputy Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, speakers highlighted the importance of ASEAN to Vietnam, the journey of Vietnam’s participation and companionship in ASEAN from an apprentice country (when it newly joined) to a member that gradually grew and integrated to become active and responsible in the ASEAN common home.

     As stated by former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, “the decision to join ASEAN 25 years ago has brought about a“ win-win” result for both Vietnam and ASEAN. For ASEAN, that was the first step to bring all 10 Southeast Asian countries together, paving the way to eliminate suspicions, confrontation, and turn to peace and cooperation. For Vietnam, that was the first step for Vietnam to "practice" in integration with the world. Scholars all believed that, during the past 25 years, Vietnam has made positive contributions to the development of ASEAN: completing the ASEAN-10 concept, promoting and concretizing the goal of forming a Community, building the ASEAN Charter… These will be valuable experiences for Vietnam and ASEAN.

     Session 2 with the theme “ASEAN - Vietnam: Looking forward to the future” is run by Dr. Le Dinh Tinh, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Foreign Strategy Studies. Opening the session, Ambassador Bilahari Kaussikan showed the situation of an ASEAN facing many volatile, complex and unpredictable challenges such as Sino-American strategic competition, natural disasters, epidemics, development disparities, etc. This forced ASEAN to unite and promote its central role in the new context as stated by Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh. On that basis, Mr. Lim Jock Hoi indicated a number of orientations of the ASEAN Community Vision after 2025. Representatives from SOCA and SEOM Vietnam, through their presentation, showed the positive and effective contributions of Vietnam to the development of ASEAN at the moment and in the future.

     At the end of the symposium, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung affirmed that the symposium was of great significance, and at the same time recreated an authentic and objective picture of the ASEAN development process and the 25-year journey of Vietnam joining ASEAN. The workshop opened up great directions for ASEAN and for Vietnam in the next journey towards a cohesive, adaptive, closely linked, people-centered Community, for peace and stability, prosperity for Southeast Asia in particular and playing a central role in the Indo-Pacific region.

Other photos at the event: