Forging unity and strength to embrace the future
The ASEAN Future Forum is an open forum that raises issues for ASEAN in particular and humanity in general.
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| Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh, Former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam. (Photo: WVR) |
There are three issues to emphasize. First, the world is changing deeply and many issues are contemporary. Second, ASEAN can not just “live” based on the successes achieved because the world has changed. Third, the expectations of ASEAN countries and people in the Association.
Those three factors have posed to ASEAN the questions of how to perceive, how to adapt and be proactive in order to promote its achievements. Geostrategic competition in the world creates both opportunities and challenges. Scientific and technological development creates a major gap in regional and global governance. If you fall behind in science, technology and innovation, ASEAN will lag behind in brain matter.
There is a lot of movement in new economic development trends in a world that is both dependent and fragmented, so where is the ASEAN's position in that story? ASEAN must catch up in two directions, one is creative transformation, the other is sustainable transformation, green transformation.
Therefore, in the leading role of maintaining a peaceful and stable environment in a large region like the Asia-Pacific, I would like to emphasize the following directions: First, ASEAN must be strong in terms of economy and united in terms of politics. Second, ASEAN must catch up with new trends. Third, ASEAN needs to both promote its role and connect with major partners, and at the same time participate in building regional standards of conduct, through which great powers, even when competing, must still cooperate with each other.
Therefore, the ASEAN Future Forum is the place to build ASEAN’s new agenda for development, peace, security and cooperation in the region.
Hopefully, the ASEAN Future Forum proposed by Viet Nam will make contributions in terms of economics, sustainable development, security, peace and cooperation to build the ASEAN Community. I look forward to those things and I am sure that this is also Viet Nam’s wishes to contribute to the Association.
