Forum of every citizen for a sustainable ASEAN development

The ASEAN Future Forum 2024 (AFF 2024) will be held on April 23rd in Hanoi . This large-scale event will involve 200-300 delegates participating both in person and online.

The initiative to organize the ASEAN Future Forum was announced by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the 43rd ASEAN Summit (Jakarta, Indonesia, September 2023).

This is Vietnam's initiative, with the desire to contribute alongside ASEAN member states, friends, partners, and all segments of ASEAN's population to shaping the future development path for ASEAN.

In 2024, the ASEAN Future Forum adopted the theme “Building a Rapidly Developing, Sustainable, and People-Centered ASEAN Community”. This theme reflects the current major concerns of the Vietnamese Government, as well as the shared concerns of ASEAN and countries around the world, closely aligned with the development orientations of ASEAN and Vietnam, particularly promoting sustainable economic growth that is “people-oriented” and “people-centered”.

Tương lai ASEAN 2024: Diễn đàn của mỗi người dân vì một ASEAN phát triển bền vững

The ASEAN Future Forum 2024 will be held on April 23rd in Hanoi. Photo: Anh Son

According to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet, after nearly six decades of existence and development, ASEAN is preparing to enter a new phase of development. This new situation raises many important questions for ASEAN, both now and in the future, such as: How to maintain its central role and adapt to changes in the region and the world? How can ASEAN adapt, balance, and harmonize the concerns of its members as well as between ASEAN and its partner countries? How can ASEAN achieve rapid development and create increasing prosperity while simultaneously ensuring the sustainability of development, with the people at the center of the process?...

“ Organizing the Forum is also a concrete contribution of Vietnam to the common effort towards building a people-centered ASEAN community, promoting the rapid and sustainable development of ASEAN. At the Forum, delegates will discuss, exchange ideas and contribute to find answers to the above questions,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet emphasized.

Ahead of the ASEAN Future Forum 2024, Dr. Vu Le Thai Hoang, Director of the Institute for Strategic Diplomatic Studies, believes that the Forum will be a channel for providing ideas and initiatives for building the ASEAN vision to 2045 and contributing the region's voice at the United Nations Future Summit (scheduled to be held in September 2024).

Dr. Vu Le Thai Hoang expressed his hope that, with its diverse participants and open nature, the Forum would contribute to promoting multi-dimensional interaction, creating opportunities for people to participate more deeply in the ASEAN process; enabling friends and partners to better understand ASEAN and promoting more comprehensive and substantive cooperation and engagement with ASEAN.

Meanwhile, sharing his thoughts on Vietnam's initiative to organize the ASEAN Future Forum 2024, Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam Denny Abdi stated that the world today is different from 10 years ago, with countless uncertainties. Therefore, efforts from Vietnam and other ASEAN members are always needed to ensure that the "ASEAN ship" always moves forward.

Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam Denny Abdi. Photo: AP

Ambassador Denny Abdi emphasized that this initiative is very timely because the world is becoming increasingly complex and the challenges today are quite different from those 10 years ago. Competition between great powers is becoming more intense, along with uncertain economic growth forecasts. In addition, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the situation in the Middle East are causing major humanitarian concerns and migration issues. Climate change and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic are also creating disruptions to global food security and other socio-economic consequences.

On the other hand, we are experiencing the rapid development of high technology, digital technology, and AI, which requires even more multi-faceted collaboration...

For Indonesia, this event is very much in line with the theme of Indonesia's ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2023: "ASEAN in stature: A focal point of growth".

“We hope that ASEAN will always be a relevant organization, maintaining its unity and central role amidst the many changes in the region and the world, both now and in the future. Therefore, Indonesia supports Vietnam’s initiative and looks forward to participating in the Forum,” said Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam Denny Abdi.

Similarly, Singapore's Ambassador to Vietnam, Jaya Ratnam, supported the organization of the ASEAN Future Forum 2024. He argued that this is an important and necessary framework for countries in the region to understand the issues as ASEAN prepares to enter a new phase of development based on the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision after 2025.

“ The global context remains challenging, with significant geopolitical obstacles and uncertainties. ASEAN itself is grappling with new internal and external challenges. Amidst such instability, our immediate task is to ensure ASEAN continues to make progress in bringing better livelihoods to all its people. We must also continue to ensure ASEAN remains central to the region, ” Ambassador Jaya Ratnam analyzed, affirming that regional members can only achieve this when ASEAN pursues a positive agenda and delivers substantive cooperation, thereby maintaining trust, relevance, and its central role.

The ASEAN Future Forum 2024 will be held in an open format, with the participation of representatives from both governments and other agencies. It is expected that the Forum will create a framework for stakeholders from the region and beyond to participate in providing ideas and initiatives for building the ASEAN Vision to 2045 and implementing that vision in the future. It will represent the voice and contribution of the region to efforts to shape the future development of the world through the United Nations Future Summit, scheduled for September. This is also a concrete contribution from Vietnam to the common effort towards building a people-centered ASEAN community and promoting the rapid and sustainable development of ASEAN.

The theme "Building a rapidly developing, sustainable, and people-centered ASEAN Community" was directly raised and has been a focus of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's attention and promotion in recent times. It is expected that the head of government will deliver a keynote address at the opening session of the Forum, along with the Prime Minister of Laos, in his capacity as ASEAN Chair 2024 and ASEAN Secretary-General. In addition, there will be recorded messages from the UN Secretary-General and the Prime Minister of Malaysia – the ASEAN Chair 2025 – at the opening session on April 23rd.

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