Vietnam actively promotes the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Strategic Plan

(Chinhphu.vn) - For two days (June 23-24) in Hanoi, the Vietnamese Ministry of Home Affairs hosted the 12th Meeting of the Working Group on Building the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Strategic Plan.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Vu Chien Thang delivered a welcome speech at the meeting - Photo: VGP/TG

The meeting was co-chaired by Malaysia and the Philippines – the two countries holding the roles of Chair and Vice Chair of the ASCC Working Group in ASEAN 2025.

The meeting was attended by 10 delegations from ASEAN member countries, the ASEAN Secretariat and a delegation from Timor-Leste as an observer. The Vietnamese delegation included Ms. Ha Thi Minh Duc, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Home Affairs - Representative of the ASEAN Senior Official in charge of ASCC of Vietnam and representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

In his welcoming speech, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Vu Chien Thang emphasized the significance of the signing of the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on "ASEAN 2045: Our Common Future" by ASEAN Senior Leaders and the adoption of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 with four strategies on politics -security, economy, culture-society and connectivity last May.

This is an important milestone and the signing is a recognition of the efforts of the senior officials in charge, especially the Working Group, which has successfully developed the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Strategic Plan.

Deputy Minister Vu Chien Thang affirmed that the Ministry of Home Affairs - as the agency in charge of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community in Vietnam - is committed to supporting and actively participating in the implementation of the Strategic Plan in general and the specific tasks of the Working Group in particular.

Delegates attending the 12th meeting of the Working Group on the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Strategic Plan - Photo: VGP/TG

Vietnam reforms its organizational apparatus, in line with the ASEAN vision

On this occasion, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Vu Chien Thang also shared about the revolution in Vietnam's organizational apparatus. Accordingly, from July 1, 2025, the two-level local government model will officially come into operation along with the merger of provinces and cities; reducing the number of provinces from 63 to 34, eliminating the district level, streamlining the organizational apparatus to be lean, efficient and moving towards modern state governance, with people at the center.

The Deputy Minister emphasized: "With a huge and huge workload, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the entire political system are making every effort to implement it on schedule. We believe that with the consensus of the people, this revolution will be successful, creating favorable conditions for people and businesses."

In addition to domestic administrative reforms, Vietnam has also initiated the development of a new Project to implement the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Strategic Plan in parallel with the final assessment of the Master Plan. This is one of the key tasks assigned by the Prime Minister to ministries and sectors to implement immediately after the 46th ASEAN Summit.

At the 12th Meeting, the Working Group members focused on discussing a series of important contents such as: Communication plan to widely disseminate and introduce the ASCC Strategic Plan; solutions to further improve the monitoring and evaluation of the ASCC Strategic Plan based on the ASCC 2025 Master Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Guideline, and at the same time map the monitoring and evaluation system of ASCC sectoral agencies; review the roadmap for developing the ASCC Results Framework after 2025, focusing on the KPIs proposed by ASCC Sectoral Agencies.

Delegates emphasized the role of the set of performance indicators (KPIs) proposed by specialized agencies – this will be an important tool to monitor the progress and results of the implementation of the Strategic Plan. At the same time, the Working Group also reviewed lessons learned from the monitoring and evaluation process of ASCC 2025 to ensure continuity and feasibility for subsequent plans.

As the host country, Vietnam has demonstrated a proactive, responsible and creative spirit in leading discussions, promoting cooperation and integrating regional goals into national development orientations. Sharing on reforming the apparatus, strengthening governance and promoting people's participation in policy making are concrete evidence of this determination.

Co-Chairs of the Working Group, Dr. Christina Yeo Ken Yin, from the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and Mr. Mike Mohen A. Padilla from the Philippine Ministry of Social Welfare and Development, highly appreciated the professional preparation and organization of the Vietnamese Ministry of Home Affairs; and acknowledged the support from the Australian Initiative for the Future of ASEAN in enhancing the capacity to implement regional cooperation activities.

Delegates believe that, with the efforts made by the Working Group, the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Strategic Plan will make an important contribution to the new development journey of the ASEAN Community, affirming the commitment and determination of member countries towards a self-reliant, dynamic, creative and people-centered ASEAN.

Thu Giang

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/viet-nam-tich-cuc-thuc-day-ke-hoach-chien-luoc-cong-dong-van-hoa-xa-hoi-asean-102250623113500911.htm