ASEAN Future Forum 2025: Giving every nation a platform to raise voice and to be heard

Mr. Florian Feyerabend, Resident Representative of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation (KAS) in Vietnam. (Photo: Thanh Long)

The ASEAN Future Forum 2025 will be held in Hanoi on February 25-26 with the theme "Building a United, Inclusive, and Resilient ASEAN Amidst Global Transformations." What do you comment on the significance of AFF 2025 and its themes?

First of all, let me start by congratulating the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and, by extension, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for initiating such a meaningful event. This year marks the second edition of the ASEAN Future Forum in 2025.

Last year, in 2024, the inaugural ASEAN Future Forum was a great success. It was even mentioned in the communique of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers, becoming an integral part of the ASEAN dialogue.

This year, the ASEAN Future Forum sees a higher level of participation, including more engagement from partners outside ASEAN. This reflects the three key aspects: Unity, inclusivity, and resilience. These three elements are crucial at this historical inflection point, as we witness increasing fragmentation in the international landscape. The rules-based international order is evolving - we do not know what it will look like tomorrow, but we can be certain that change is underway.

On the aspect of unity, as someone from the KAS, a German think tank specializing in foreign and security policy, I believe that unity is the key to strength, to making voices heard, and to achieving a certain level of strategic autonomy. This is an ambitious goal for ASEAN, and through this Forum, we hope to contribute to strengthening ASEAN’s unity.

Inclusivity means that every ASEAN member state, whether large or small, must have its voice heard. But inclusivity is not limited to ASEAN alone. Looking at this year’s Forum and ASEAN’s broader dialogue frameworks, we see that ASEAN has always valued engaging external partners. This is another important perspective on inclusivity, ensuring that all ASEAN member states are heard while also bringing in non-ASEAN states into the conversation. Furthermore, within ASEAN itself, it is not only governments (track 1) that should be heard, but also other stakeholders (track 1.5). The ASEAN Future Forum, with its track 1.5 format, serves as an ideal platform to uphold these standards.

Finally, resilience is essential in today’s highly volatile environment. With the ASEAN Future Forum and its discussions this year, we aim to contribute to dialogues on future technologies. Topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing will be vital for ASEAN’s resilience moving forward. This Forum goes beyond classical non-traditional security topics that we addressed in the past - it also embraces forward-looking discussions on emerging, inevitable trends.

For all these reasons, I believe the ASEAN Future Forum 2025 covers all three dimensions: unity, inclusivity, and also resilience.

How do you assess ASEAN's central role in shaping the regional architecture, as well as the prospects for ASEAN-EU cooperation in maintaining peace, stability, and promoting sustainable development, not only in Southeast Asia but also on a global scale?

In my view, the central role of ASEAN is a fundamental element. ASEAN has its own approach to cooperation, it does not take sides and does not interfere in each other’s internal affairs.

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ASEAN operates based on the four core principles of peaceful coexistence. Additionally, the "ASEAN Way" is a widely used term to describe how the organization manages internal challenges while balancing its external relations.

I believe ASEAN’s greatest strength lies in its convening power - the ability to bring together stakeholders and invite external partners to discuss shared challenges. This is precisely ASEAN’s central role.

The ASEAN Future Forum 2025 is part of Vietnam’s and other ASEAN countries’ efforts to establish a platform for exchanging ideas and seeking solutions to today’s global challenges. How would you assess Vietnam’s role in ASEAN as an official member over the past 30 years?

I think 2025 is quite an important year for Vietnam. Vietnam is reflecting on 30 years of ASEAN membership. In 1995, when Vietnam joined ASEAN, it marked the beginning of the country’s regional and international integration.

Therefore, we can say that ASEAN was the starting point for Vietnam to become what it is today - a nation deeply integrated into global value chains, participating in more than 17 free trade agreements with two more under negotiation, and being an active, responsible player on the international stage. ASEAN was the foundation for this transformation.

Looking back at the last three decades, I can say that Vietnam has made certain achievements. Reflecting on 2010, when Vietnam had the Chairmanship of ASEAN, we could see an expansion of the ASEAN Regional Forum, in which inclusivity was emphasized. We could see players such as the United States and Russia being brought to the table - thanks to Vietnam’s efforts.

Same about the topic of security challenges in the region. It was also in 2010 that Vietnam took a leading role in expanding the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting to the ADMM and later ADMM+. This is an important legacy of Vietnam's leadership in ASEAN, and I believe it deserves recognition.

The second Chairmanship of ASEAN for Vietnam was during very difficult circumstances. It was in 2020 during a pandemic - unprecedented situation on a global scale. And again, Vietnam took an important step to strengthen the cohesion and also unity for ASEAN in terms of efforts to combat the pandemic, but also at the same time building the ASEAN community during very difficult circumstances.

So I would like to applaud Vietnam on those achievements. And I think now with the ASEAN Future Forum, Vietnam is giving another contribution to the dialogue about the future of ASEAN, revisiting the mechanisms that ASEAN has in place, the different frameworks that are operating currently and how they should be improved and maybe also adapted.

Could you share more about the upcoming cooperation plans between the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and ASEAN member states, especially in the context of the region and the world facing new challenges and opportunities? Additionally, through these initiatives, what message would you like to convey about KAS’s role in promoting dialogue, fostering development cooperation, and strengthening ASEAN-EU relations in the coming period?

The KAS is a political organization affiliated with Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In the ASEAN region, we are present in most countries.

In Vietnam, we are extremely proud to have been a partner and sponsor of the ASEAN Future Forum since its very first edition. This stems from our deep, long-term, and strategic cooperation with the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. When the Academy proposed the idea of organizing the ASEAN Future Forum, they reached out and invited us to participate. KAS is also honoured to accompany the Forum.

Apart from that, in Vietnam, we are also known for our support for the East Sea International Conference- another very important effort of Vietnam to address challenges pertaining to the maritime domain, to the East Sea. We also collaborate with the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam to implement a series of annual events such as the International Mekong Forum, the International Research Forum on China, and the Maritime Dialogue.

KAS representative offices are implementing various programs related to ASEAN. We as the Konrad Adenauer Foundation not only support the ASEAN Future Forum here in Vietnam, but also support the Asia-Pacific Roundtable that is taking place each year in Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur. We are also a partner of the ASEAN Roundtable of ISEAS, the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

And last but not least, we have a very good network of young think tankers from both Europe and Southeast Asia, working on common challenges and opportunities for both the EU and also ASEAN, called the EANGAGE Think Tank Network. And the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam is also a partner of this and helped to set it up.

These are three highlights of our cooperation with ASEAN in the broader region.

Regarding ASEAN-EU cooperation, in 2020, the EU officially became a strategic partner of the region. The year 2025 will also mark the 10th anniversary of the EU establishing its official mission with an EU Ambassador to ASEAN, demonstrating the strong institutional ties between the two groups.

In particular, if there were a simple formula to remember the relationship between ASEAN and the EU, I would use the 3-3-3-2 model: ASEAN is the EU’s third-largest trading partner. Vice versa, the EU is also ASEAN’s third-largest trading partner. The EU is the third-largest investor in ASEAN. And finally, the EU is the second-largest development partner and donor in the ASEAN region.

I think the 3-3-3-2 formula reflects how strong the ties are between the European Union and Vietnam and ASEAN in extension.

Thank you so much!

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