Vietnamese called on countries to advocate ASEAN’s central role and join the bloc in addressing common challenges to build an open, transparent, inclusive, and rules-based regional architecture, amid complex global developments, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet said on Saturday.

Deputy Minister Viet, who is also head of the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) delegation of Vietnam, made the suggestion while attending the ASEAN-U.S. Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Foreign Minister’s Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Saturday, within the framework of the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-57), which commenced on July 24.

Participants in these events spent considerable time discussing and expressing their views on the East Vietnam Sea, Myanmar, the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

They shared concerns about currently complicated developments and their impacts on peace, security, stability, and development.

Delegates also emphasized principles such as compliance with international law, self-restraint, and peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Highlighting the central role of ASEAN in regional and world issues, Deputy Minister Viet suggested countries work together with the grouping in dealing with common challenges, promoting dialogue, cooperation, and trust, while building a regional architecture that is open, transparent, inclusive, and based on rules, amid the complex and uncertain global context.

He called on the bloc’s partners to support and respect ASEAN’s stance on the East Vietnam Sea issue, particularly amid current complex developments. He also urged support for ASEAN's efforts to transform the East Vietnam Sea into a region of peace, stability, cooperation, and sustainable development.

The Vietnamese diplomat underscored the need to create a favorable environment for negotiations on an effective, substantive Code of Conduct (COC) for the East Vietnam Sea in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UNCLOS, while continuing to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the East Vietnam Sea.

Speaking at the ASEAN-U.S. Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirmed that Washington attaches importance to its relationship with ASEAN.

The U.S. considers ASEAN a focus in its Indo-Pacific Strategy and will support ASEAN's central role as well as the bloc’s vision on the Indo-Pacific region, Blinken said.

At the ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting between the grouping and its three partners China, Japan, and South Korea, delegates agreed to boost cooperation in trade, investment, finance, transnational crime prevention, and non-traditional security challenges, among others.

They also underlined the need to strengthen regional financial stability mechanisms and expand cooperation in new areas.

During their discussion at the EAS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, officials agreed to coordinate efforts to effectively harness the great cooperation potential in investment, trade, digital transformation, energy transition, green transformation, climate change response, and sustainable development.

At the ARF Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the parties approved a list of mid-term activities for 2024-25, with nearly 30 activities in areas such as climate change response, disaster relief, cybersecurity, and maritime security, among others.

Among these activities, Vietnam will co-organize a number of activities including the implementation of the 1982 UNCLOS as well as the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.

At the conclusion of the aforementioned meetings, the AMM-57 wrapped up on Saturday with the issuance of a Joint Communiqué that reflects discussions on the progress of building the ASEAN Community, cooperation between ASEAN countries, the bloc’s external relations, and various regional and global issues.

As the 2024 Chair of ASEAN, Laos also released the Chairman’s Statement on all the events within the AMM-57.

ASEAN, fully known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, consists of 10 member states: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Vietnam has been a full member of ASEAN since July 28, 1995.

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