Vietnam actively contributes to shaping ASEAN's future

The 47th ASEAN Summit and related Summits are the most important and largest series of meetings during Malaysia's ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025, with the participation of leaders from ASEAN countries, Timor Leste and partner countries, the UN Secretary-General, and many invited guests including leaders from countries and international organizations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working visit strongly conveys the message of a Vietnam that actively and responsibly participates with other member states in maintaining and strengthening ASEAN's central role and promoting its responsible voice for peace , stability, and development.

THE DRIVING FORCE OF MULTILATERAL COOPERATION

After nearly six decades of formation and development, ASEAN has affirmed itself as a successful model of regional cooperation and integration, with an increasingly prominent role and prestige. ASEAN has promoted comprehensive and deepened intra-bloc cooperation, expanded and strengthened relations with many partners around the world , and successfully initiated and played a leading role in many regional cooperation mechanisms.

ASEAN leaders sign the Kuala Lumpur Declaration 2015 on "Establishing the ASEAN Community". (Photo: VGP)

The formation of the ASEAN Community (officially on December 31, 2015) with its three pillars of political-security, economic, and socio-cultural cooperation is a historical milestone, marking a qualitative leap in development, transforming ASEAN into a cohesive regional organization with expanded and enhanced levels and scope of cooperation, playing a crucial role in peace, stability, cooperation, and development in Southeast Asia and the Asia- Pacific . Amidst the rapid and complex changes in the global and regional geopolitical, security, and economic environment, ASEAN consistently strives to maintain unity and solidarity; gradually consolidating, expanding, and deepening cooperation and linkages within the bloc as well as between ASEAN and its partners inside and outside the region; continuing to develop dynamically and integrate more deeply into the global economy, affirming its central role in the region and its indispensable role in the regional policies of its partners.

In 2025, ASEAN celebrates the 10th anniversary of the formation of the Community, entering the final year of implementing the 2025 Master Plans. To prepare for development in this new phase, ASEAN has adopted the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 along with four implementation strategies on political-security, economic, socio-cultural, and connectivity, aiming to build a “resilient, dynamic, innovative, and people-centered ASEAN”.

The plenary session of the 46th ASEAN Summit, in Malaysia, May 2026. (Photo: VGP)

Over the past period, ASEAN has continued to uphold and promote the Association's common principles and norms of conduct. In the face of developments affecting regional peace, security, stability, and development, ASEAN has maintained a balanced and flexible approach, strengthening its principled stance on international and regional issues. Regarding the South China Sea, ASEAN continues to strengthen its common position on resolving disputes and differences through peaceful means in accordance with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), promoting the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), and working towards the early achievement of a substantive, effective, and internationally compliant Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) in accordance with UNCLOS.

Economically, the ASEAN Economic Community has made positive strides in recent years, in terms of scale, level of integration, growth rate, and tangible effectiveness. This has helped expand markets, create a favorable environment for intra-regional investment and business, and attract investment and business from outside. Trade and investment cooperation is a highlight.

ASEAN prioritizes the development of a resilient, inclusive, and people-centered economy to respond to the rapidly changing world, seize the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and keep pace with new trends in digital transformation, green economy, e-commerce, etc., for the goal of sustainable development, narrowing the development gap, and focusing on the interests of people and businesses.

Within the framework of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2018 (WEF ASEAN 2018), on September 12, 2018, a discussion session on the theme "Asian Economic Prospects" took place at the National Convention Center (Hanoi). (Photo: VNA)

ASEAN proactively adapts to new development trends, building a series of new cooperation frameworks such as the Digital Economy Framework Agreement, the Digital Master Plan, the ASEAN Power Grid, etc. ASEAN mechanisms continue to receive support, attention, and participation from partners, especially major countries, showing that ASEAN continues to leverage its "cohesion" capacity, affirming its role and credibility with other countries regarding its ability to harmonize, adapt flexibly, and maintain balance in relations with partners.

Regarding external relations, ASEAN continues to develop its relationships with partners in both breadth and depth. Partners affirm their appreciation for and support of ASEAN's central role, strengthening substantive and long-term cooperation with ASEAN, and offering practical proposals and initiatives. Despite facing numerous challenges in the context of increasing strategic competition among major powers, ASEAN's mechanisms maintain their strategic value in promoting dialogue and cooperation, attracting the attention and participation of partners, jointly addressing common challenges, and contributing to the goals of peace, security, stability, and sustainable development in the region.

ASSERTING OUR POSITION IN ASEAN

For Vietnam, participation in ASEAN is strategically significant in ensuring a peaceful and secure environment, expanding development opportunities, and enhancing its standing. Vietnam's foreign policy clearly states the importance of promoting its role in multilateral mechanisms, especially ASEAN.

Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam (second from the right), the ASEAN Secretary-General, and ASEAN Foreign Ministers at the meeting to admit Vietnam as the seventh full member of ASEAN, July 28, 1995, in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. (Photo: VNA)

2025 marks three decades since Vietnam became a member of ASEAN. Practical experience has confirmed that joining ASEAN was a correct, historically significant, and strategic decision of the Party and State, bringing important benefits in terms of security, development, and status. Joining ASEAN helped Vietnam break free from the embargo and blockade, enabling it to gradually integrate more deeply into the region and reach international prominence. With a proactive, positive, and responsible approach, Vietnam has made many practical contributions to ASEAN's success, closely linked to ASEAN's pivotal development milestones.

Vietnam's participation in ASEAN contributed to the process of admitting Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, completing ASEAN-10, which brings together all Southeast Asian nations, and ushering in a new era of cooperation, friendship, and trust. Vietnam also participated in and played an important role in determining the direction of development and major policy decisions of ASEAN, contributing positively and responsibly to maintaining ASEAN's unity, solidarity, and central role, and building and strengthening ASEAN's principled stance and balanced common voice on international and regional issues.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the Dialogue Session between Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in Indonesia, May 10, 2023. (Photo: VNA)

Thirty years of participation in ASEAN have witnessed Vietnam's growing maturity and prestige, from a process of familiarization and learning to proactive and active participation, and now its readiness to assume important responsibilities and gradually develop a leading role. In particular, Vietnam's ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020 left a strong mark on its role and leadership capacity, guiding the region through the unprecedented difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic, achieving all set goals in the spirit of "Cohesion and Proactive Adaptation," strengthening solidarity, maintaining the momentum of cooperation, and proactively orienting a new phase of development with the initiative to build the ASEAN Community Vision after 2025.

In its role as coordinator of relations between ASEAN and numerous partners (such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, etc.), Vietnam has effectively played a bridging role, deepening cooperation, elevating relationships, and making substantial contributions to peace, security, and development in the region.

Beyond the regional scope, Vietnam has implemented numerous impactful initiatives, contributing to aligning ASEAN's priorities and concerns with the international community. Among these, the initiative to host the first session of the United Nations Security Council on ASEAN-UN cooperation in maintaining international peace and security stands out. This has helped promote cooperation between the two organizations, enhancing ASEAN's standing and Vietnam's role within ASEAN and the United Nations. The success of the ASEAN Future Forums in Hanoi in 2024 and 2025 is clear evidence of Vietnam's leadership in discussions and strategic planning for the ASEAN Community Vision 2045.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and heads of delegations attending the ASEAN Future Forum 2025. (Photo: VNA)

Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to ASEAN

"Vietnam is always ready to work with ASEAN countries to strengthen cooperation, share experiences and resources, to overcome current challenges, seize new opportunities, and move towards an inclusive, resilient, and prosperous ASEAN Community."

The shared aspiration of Vietnam and ASEAN countries is to successfully build a united, strong, and effectively cooperative ASEAN Community for the peace, stability, and common prosperity of the entire region, as well as of each nation. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh leading the high-level Vietnamese delegation to the 47th ASEAN Summit and related summits in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is an opportunity for Vietnam to once again affirm the consistent foreign policy of the Party and State of Vietnam, based on independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralism, comprehensive and deep international integration, and working together to build an inclusive and sustainable ASEAN.

Supervised by: Chu Hong Thang - Pham Truong Son

Content: Nguyen Ha - Minh Hang

Presented by: Nha Nam

Source: According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, VNA (Vietnam News Agency)

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