37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings kick off

Thứ Năm, 12/11/2020, 09:39

The opening ceremony of the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings is slated for the morning of November 12, with Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong in attending.

As the ASEAN Chair, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will preside over the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings from November 12-15 in the form of video conference.

The 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings are the most important events during Viet Nam’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020 including the 37th ASEAN Summit, ASEAN Plus One Summits with China, Japan, the RoK, India, the U.S., Australia, and the UN, the ASEAN-New Zealand Leaders’ Summit to commemorate the 45th anniversary of dialogue relations, the 23rd ASEAN Plus Three Summit, the RCEP Summit, the Mekong-Japan Summit, the Mekong-RoK Summit, the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Viet Nam (CLMV) Summit, and the Cambodia-Laos-Viet Nam Summit on Development Triangle Area.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc checks preparations for 37th ASEAN Summit, related events. Photo: VNA

Notably, the ASEAN women leaders’ summit will be held for the first time, under the chair of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, with the participation of female leaders from ASEAN member countries. Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan will deliver a speech at the summit.

The 37th ASEAN Summit, therefore, is a key chance for ASEAN leaders to affirm their commitments and strong political resolve to maintain cooperation momentum and regional connectivity to cope with the pandemic and consolidate ASEAN’s centrality and position, along with outlining the bloc’s development orientations in a rapidly, complexly, and unforeseeably changing world.

During the summits with partners, leaders will focus on building the ASEAN Community, maintaining intra-bloc cooperation momentum, expanding and deepening relations between ASEAN and partners, promoting the grouping’s centrality, raising its international position, ensuring COVID-19 prevention and control, and discussing regional and international issues of shared concern.

More than 80 documents, including proposals by Viet Nam, are set to be approved on this occasion; the highest number to date.

Earlier, on November 10-11, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh chaired the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM); Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh chaired the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council Meeting and the Preparatory Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting.

Regarding the RCEP, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and General Secretary of the National ASEAN 2020 Committee, Nguyen Quoc Dung, said on November 9 that, the negotiations over the agreement have been completed and participating countries are working on internal procedures for signing. If these procedures are completed in a timely manner, the deal is expected to be signed on November 15.

The agreement will create momentum for regional trade, particularly between signatories, Dung said, stressing that the signing holds great meaning for Viet Nam, as it has worked hard as ASEAN Chair to accelerate the process.
By An Nhien