30 years of Viet Nam within ASEAN: Actively construct a shared future
Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to ASEAN, affirms that Viet Nam has truly and closely followed ASEAN on its 30-year journey with the Association, contributing to the ASEAN family and the nation’s development goals. This parallel approach will continue to guide Viet Nam’s engagement within ASEAN in the next period.
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| General Secretary To Lam and his spouse, together with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn and his spouse, cut a cake to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Viet Nam’s accession to ASEAN during a visit to the ASEAN Secretariat in March 2025. (Photo: Tuan Anh) |
In his policy statement at the ASEAN Secretariat (9 March), General Secretary To Lam highlighted the requirements for ASEAN’s standing and centrality: not only solidarity, unity, and collective resolve, but also innovative thinking, agile strategies, pragmatic roadmaps, focused resources, and decisive action. What are your assessments of ASEAN’s breakthrough and sharp thinking in the journey ahead? And how can Viet Nam contribute to this journey?
Nearly six decades of existence has proved ASEAN’s value and standing as the spotlight of regional cooperation for peace, stability, and prosperity.
ASEAN is facing a significant turn. We are entering a new period of development after 10 years of ASEAN Community. ASEAN is advancing toward a long-term goal of a self-reliant, creative, robust, and people-centered Community by 2045. The ASEAN Community Vision 2045 has affirmed that “ASEAN [will] remain as the locomotive for peace, stability and prosperity in the region” to “respond effectively to challenges and complex geopolitical and socio-economic environments in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.”
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| Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to ASEAN. (Photo: Viet Nam’s Mission to ASEAN) |
To this end, ASEAN needs to fulfill certain requirements. In his speech celebrating 30 years of Viet Nam in ASEAN during the official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat, General Secretary To Lam emphasized that, “Given the complex shifts today, preserving and leveraging our recorded achievements in a sustainable, effective way, and asserting ASEAN’s centrality and standing… ASEAN must also embrace innovative thinking, employ agile strategies, develop pragmatic roadmaps, allocate focused resources, and take decisive action.”
The prerequisite is to maintain solidarity, unity, and firm collective strength, while the remaining requirement is to apply innovative thinking and agile strategies to harness opportunities and effectively address challenges.
Innovative thinking helps ASEAN to timely adjust its development model, catching up with new trends in digitalization, green transition, and novel technologies. As such, ASEAN can position itself in the shifting and diversifying supply chain, creating new drivers for growth and a greater competitive edge.
Agile strategies facilitate ASEAN’s effective adaptation to changes in the geopolitical and geoeconomic environment that is complex and unpredictable, with intertwined challenges and opportunities, thus strengthening ASEAN’s regional centrality and international standing.
After three decades being an active and responsible ASEAN member, Viet Nam will continue to promote and realize innovative and breakthrough ideals and initiatives that help ASEAN to become a part of the world’s new and dynamic development trends. Viet Nam will contribute to shaping ASEAN’s sharp thinking and actions so that ASEAN can stand strong and resilient against challenges that threaten peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.
As affirmed by General Secretary To Lam, “ASEAN has served as the premier multilateral mechanism most directly connected with Viet Nam”. Over the past three decades, Viet Nam has been “significantly contributing to the construction of a cohesive, resilient, and adaptive ASEAN Community”. In the time to come, Viet Nam will prioritize “collaborating with ASEAN to cultivate a dynamic and united Community that advances peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.”
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| Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son chaired the ASEAN - UK Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on July 11, as part of the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Malaysia. (Photo: Quang Hoa) |
How important is ASEAN Community Vision 2045 to the Community’s development in the new era? What are Viet Nam’s opportunities and challenges in implementing the Vision’s priorities?
The ASEAN Community Vision 2045 provides major guidance for the next 20 years of ASEAN Community. “Resilient, Innovative, Dynamic, and People-Centered” is both the goal and the hallmark of Community building from now to 2045.
The 2045 Vision will be implemented through four strategic plans across the pillars of Politics-Security, Economy, Culture-Society, Connectivity and the Working Plan on Narrowing development gaps within ASEAN.
Inheriting and promoting last periods’ achievements, in this new period, the 2045 Vision will expand cooperation and enhance ASEAN’s regional connectivity.
(i) ASEAN will foster self-reliance and proactive adaptation, while maintaining its centrality in the world’s most dynamically developing region characterized by spirals of fierce strategic competition.
(ii) ASEAN will be proactive in action and creative in thinking to make the most of new economic growth drivers and develop sustainably.
(iii) ASEAN will always put its people at the center of its development, ensuring growth that improves social welfare and living standards for its people, and promoting community identity and awareness among people of regional countries.
The goals identified in the 2045 Vision are totally in line with Viet Nam’s priorities and development orientations in the new rising era. Viet Nam’s opportunities include its 30 years of experience in ASEAN integration, its capacity and resources to incorporate and realize ASEAN’s cooperation priorities into the nation’s development plan, and its mindset, ideals, prestige, and responsibility to actively and effectively implement ASEAN’s regional goals.
At the same time, there are common challenges facing ASEAN member states in implementing cooperation programs and plans. These involve resource mobilization and investment, implementation effectiveness, mechanism for cross-sectoral and cross-pillar coordination, and adjustability to external uncertainties.
For Viet Nam, our challenges are how to get the sufficient commitment and attention from relevant departments and agencies, the proper allocation of resources for ASEAN cooperation, and the ability to harness ASEAN’s benefits to serve national development.
To successfully implement ASEAN Community Vision in the new period, it is imperative that we clearly identify our roadmap with specific steps to take and the right amount of resource to utilize. We should build mechanisms for coordination and supervision, and more importantly, maintain consistent determinations and commitments among member states, including Viet Nam.
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| Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong and New Zealand Ambassador to ASEAN Joanna Anderson co-chaired the 13th Meeting of the ASEAN–New Zealand Joint Cooperation Committee at the ASEAN Secretariat on May 10, 2025. (Photo: Viet Nam’s Mission to ASEAN) |
30 years of Viet Nam within ASEAN has been summed up by the words “companionship and development”, then how can we summarize our next journey with ASEAN?
During three decades in ASEAN, Viet Nam has truly accompanied and worked closely with ASEAN, thus contributing to ASEAN’s development, at the same time substantively supporting the nation’s development and integration goals. This parallel approach will continue to guide Viet Nam’s participation in ASEAN for the next period.
With this 30-year foundation, Viet Nam sees clearly the close connection between a strong, resilient, and dynamic ASEAN with each member state’s security and development interests. To enhance the country’s standing and strength, the next journey of Viet Nam in ASEAN will focus on constructive actions.
Together with other member states, Viet Nam will actively construct a shared future for ASEAN, as said in ASEAN Community Vision 2045, “Our Future ASEAN”. We will make ASEAN a center for growth and a “locomotive for peace, stability and prosperity” within “an interconnected global community of nations.”
Within this strong ASEAN Community, Viet Nam’s potential, standing, and prestige will rise, and ASEAN’s benefits will be spread widely and substantively to our people and businesses.
Thank you so much, Madam Ambassador!
