Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and a high-ranking delegation of Viet Nam left Cebu, the Philippines, on the evening of May 8, concluding their trip to attend the 48th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit at the invitation of Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., Chair of ASEAN 2026.
Seeing off the delegation at Mactan-Cebu International Airport were Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Oban Jr., Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro, Mayor of Lapu-Lapu city Cindi King-Chan, and representatives from the ASEAN Summit organising committee.
Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Lai Thai Binh, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to ASEAN Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong, along with staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines were also present at the airport.
During the trip, PM Hung attended the opening ceremony and plenary and retreat sessions with other leaders of ASEAN member states.
At the events, he delivered important speeches conveying the foreign policy adopted at the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, as well as Viet Nam’s views on ASEAN priorities. He put forward practical proposals to promote the ASEAN Community-building process and enhance the bloc’s resilience and responsiveness to regional and global developments, particularly impacts stemming from the Middle East situation. He also exchanged views on regional and international issues of shared concern.
At both the plenary and retreat sessions, the Vietnamese PM highlighted the country’s proposals on how ASEAN should respond to interconnected and multidimensional challenges, and outlined three priorities for the bloc in the new context. Viet Nam’s proposals were welcomed and highly valued by ASEAN leaders for both their substance and timeliness. Based on Viet Nam’s recommendations, the summit discussed and agreed to issue the ASEAN leaders’ statement on priority actions to strengthen regional resilience.
On the sidelines of the summit, PM Hung also held bilateral meetings with leaders of countries and international organisations to foster friendship, strengthen political trust, and promote substantive and effective cooperation.
At these meetings, the Government leader of Viet Nam stressed the importance of increasing high-level exchanges, consolidating political trust, and effectively implementing existing cooperation frameworks. He also underlined the spirit of friendship, solidarity and cooperation among countries while expressing the desire to tap new areas of cooperation in trade relations, promote intra-ASEAN economic cooperation, ensure food and energy security, develop supply chains, and tighten regional infrastructure connectivity.
The overseas trip, the first by PM Hung since taking office, was considered a success both multilaterally and bilaterally, leaving a positive impression of Viet Nam’s proactive, active and responsible spirit, as well as its substantive and effective contributions to ASEAN’s common work and efforts to promote ties with member states for peace and development in the region and the world.
