Washington meeting discusses ASEAN-US Special Summit preparation

Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc attended a meeting of the ASEAN Committee in Washington, the first held under Vietnam’s chairmanship, on February 24.

Ngoc briefed the participants on major outcomes of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) Retreat which took place in the resort city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa, on January 17 – 18.

Ambassadors of other ASEAN nations congratulated Vietnam on successfully hosting the AMM Retreat and highly valued the country for fostering common initiatives and effort to address regional and global issues, particularly the outbreak of the acute respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

The ambassadors later discussed preparations for the ASEAN-US Special Summit, to be held in Las Vegas on March 14, saying they appreciate the US for hosting the meeting with leaders of the Greater Mekong sub-region as well as various sideline events to promote the bilateral cooperation in Mekong region, technology, energy and women’s empowerment.

They asked Laos, the current coordinator for ASEAN-US relations, to continue maintaining close communication with the US side in order to provide excellent reception, logistics services and contents for the summit.

At the meeting, the ASEAN Committee in Washington also had discussions with Acting Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade Diane Farrell and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia Laurie Farris from the US Department of Commerce.

Farrell highly spoke of ASEAN’s position in the regional economic structure, saying the US government wants to maintain fair and open trade relations with ASEAN nations for the regional development and prosperity.

The US Department of Commerce looks to step up cooperation with ASEAN in the development of a network of smart cities and harmonisation of standards to ensure the compatibility of ASEAN exports to the US and increasing ASEAN investment flow to the US as part of the SelectUSA program.