General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President of Viet Nam To Lam highlighted the need to measure success in the coming period by the extent to which ASEAN’s commitments are implemented in practice while meeting with heads of delegations, international experts, scholars and representatives of international organisations attending the ASEAN Future Forum 2026 in Ha Noi on June 9.
The following is a translation of his speech at the reception.
Distinguished guests,
On behalf of the leaders of the Vietnamese Party and State, I warmly welcome you to Ha Noi to attend the third ASEAN Future Forum. I am very pleased that this year's Forum is attended by the Prime Ministers of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Timor-Leste, leaders and representatives of ASEAN member states and dialogue partners, many international and regional organisations, scholars, and research institutes, demonstrating a shared interest in the future of the region and a wish to exchange views on the issues facing ASEAN in this new stage of development.
I wholeheartedly share and agree with many of your insightful opinions. ASEAN has entered its first year of implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, with many new expectations and, along with that, higher requirements and demand for more proactiveness, more effectiveness, and more substantiveness. This spirit is precisely what I conveyed at the recent Shangri-La Dialogue.
For ASEAN, that spirit stems from solidarity, dialogue, trust, and cooperation. This is also our starting point when initiating the ASEAN Future Forum, with the desire to contribute another open and substantive channel of discussions to supplement ASEAN's overall cooperation processes, so that we can share, connect ideas, and seek new and more practical avenues of cooperation for the region's future.
On this occasion, I would like to share with you the following points:
1. The world is changing, the region must think differently.
The world is entering a period of profound transformation. The three major crises concerning the international order, development models, and strategic trust that we are witnessing are not happening far away, but are manifesting very clearly right here in this region.
Strategic competition between major powers is becoming more intense and expanding into fundamental areas of the future such as technology, data, supply chains, and new governance standards. Artificial intelligence, big data, and quantum computing… are opening up enormous development opportunities, but also posing many new risks. Meanwhile, challenges related to climate, energy, water resources, aging population, fake news, information manipulation, and human security have increasingly direct impact on social stability and the development capacity of each nation.
Traditional development advantages no longer provide the same impetus as before. Many familiar approaches fail to meet new requirements. Population size, resources, and capital remain important, but competitive advantages increasingly depend on the ability to innovate, adapt, and be ready for new development trends.
This is a crucial requirement for ASEAN. Southeast Asia is a crossroads of major movements. The region has the opportunity to attract more resources, embrace supply chain shifts, develop the digital economy, step up green transition, and develop new technologies. But opportunities do not automatically translate into advantages. Opportunities only become advantages when the region has sufficient capacity to seize them, sufficient determination to innovate, and sufficient mettle to maintain a stable environment for development.
Distinguished guests,
2. ASEAN must safeguard its strategic assets while simultaneously innovating its operational methods.
With the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, ASEAN has clearly defined its direction for the coming decades; however, this is only the starting point. In my opinion, success depends on ASEAN simultaneously doing two things. On the one hand, it must continue to preserve and promote the strategic assets accumulated over many decades: Solidarity; ASEAN's centrality; and the principle of consensus and unity in diversity. On the other hand, it must strongly innovate its "value-based mindset" so that these assets are transformed into the capacity to adapt, the capacity to act, and the capacity to organise implementation.
ASEAN's strategic assets are the result of a long process of building trust, persistent dialogue, consultation, resolving differences, and seeking consensus among member states. In this new phase, ASEAN's central role can only be truly realised when it maintains solidarity, strategic autonomy, an inclusive approach, and the capacity to coordinate and shape the region's common agenda.
ASEAN’s potential is enormous, but transforming that potential into real strength will require further efforts. Intra-regional integration needs to be deeper; connectivity in infrastructure, logistics, digital networks and energy systems needs to be more synchronised; development and technological gaps need to be narrowed further; and the implementation of commitments and agreements, as well as coordination in responding to common challenges, must also be strengthened more.
The world is changing very rapidly; and the challenges facing ASEAN today are markedly different from those of the past. The “value-based mindset” needs to be renewed more vigorously through more flexible and effective ways of working in order to better meet emerging demands. First and foremost, there is a need to shift from a process-oriented mindset to a results-oriented mindset, so that commitments contained in documents are translated into reality. It is necessary to move from consultation as the primary approach towards more substantive coordination, enabling cooperation mechanisms to respond more swiftly to cross-sectoral and interconnected issues. And there is a need to move from consensus in awareness to consensus in action, so that the common voice is reflected through concrete programmes, concrete resources and concrete outcomes.
In other words, I believe that the measure of success in the coming period should not simply be how many additional documents, mechanisms or action plans ASEAN produces; more importantly, it should be measured by the extent to which ASEAN’s commitments are implemented in practice, what changes they bring about for the region, and what benefits they deliver to people, businesses and each member economy.
In the context of increasingly intense competition today, moving slowly may mean missing opportunities. ASEAN, therefore, needs to demonstrate a stronger spirit of proactiveness: proactiveness in strategies to identify trends early and shape priorities; proactiveness in adaptation to make the most of emerging trends and respond effectively to rising challenges; and proactiveness in creation to contribute actively to shaping regional norms and cooperation frameworks.
Distinguished guests,
3. The ASEAN Future Forum contributes to ASEAN’s cooperation processes
Drawing on the discussions held at this year’s Forum, I believe that the ASEAN Future Forum can continue to play its role as an open, candid and substantive exchange platform regarding the region’s long-term issues. As a complementary channel for dialogue, the Forum’s value lies in its ability to contribute additional perspectives, policy inputs and ideas to ASEAN’s cooperation processes. In this regard, the ASEAN Future Forum may wish to devote greater attention to the following areas:
First, discussions at the Forum can help early identify emerging issues and long-term trends that will have a direct impact on the region’s future. Many of today’s challenges do not arise in isolation but are interconnected: Technological transformation is linked to employment and governance; the green transition is linked to energy, food security and livelihoods; and the information space is linked to social trust and governance capacity. The earlier these issues are recognised, the better prepared ASEAN will be.
Second, the Forum can contribute to stronger connections among policymakers, academics, research institutions and businesses. Regional issues are becoming increasingly complex, cross-sectoral and beyond the scope of traditional approaches. Hence, ASEAN’s processes require a broader range of perspectives, experiences and initiatives from different channels to complement policy formulation and implementation.
Third, the Forum can place greater emphasis on generating practical and highly applicable ideas. If carefully distilled, discussions at the ASEAN Future Forum can provide additional perspectives, suggest directions for cooperation and offer recommendations for consideration within relevant ASEAN processes. This includes promoting practical solutions such as conflict prevention, artificial intelligence development, energy, youth cooperation and cooperation within the Mekong sub-region.
In that spirit, we look forward to continuing to receive the attention, support and active participation of member states, partners, scholars, research institutions and businesses. It is through your participation, sharing, and partnership that the ASEAN Future Forum will increasingly become a useful and practical channel for dialogue, helping to complement ASEAN’s processes while fostering a spirit of dialogue, cooperation and collective action for the shared future of the region.
Distinguished guests,
4. Viet Nam’s contributions
Since joining ASEAN in 1995, Viet Nam has consistently regarded ASEAN as a nucleus of its foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification of external relations. Its active and responsible participation in the ASEAN Community has played an important role in helping Viet Nam maintain a peaceful and independent environment, promote deep international economic integration for national development, and enhance its standing on the global stage. Viet Nam always wishes and makes efforts to work closely with other ASEAN member states to build a united, resilient and sustainably developing community, and uphold ASEAN’s centrality in the regional security architecture.
For its part, the profound changes taking place around the world also require Viet Nam to take stronger innovation in development mindset, growth models and governance capacity. The challenges facing ASEAN are likewise the challenges facing Viet Nam: how to maintain peace and stability, safeguard major macroeconomic balances, achieve rapid yet sustainable development, and at the same time make breakthroughs to enhance competitiveness. In addition, strategic solutions are needed to narrow development gaps, proactively adapt to changing circumstances and strengthen resilience against both internal and external shocks.
The prevailing spirit today is to act more decisively, implement more rapidly and measure success through tangible results. Choosing the right direction is important, but in the current context, being on the right path without sufficient speed may still mean missing valuable opportunities. Therefore, Viet Nam is focusing on removing bottlenecks, unlocking resources, advancing strategic and digital infrastructure, developing high-quality human resources, and creating a more favourable environment for citizens, businesses and localities.
For Viet Nam, development is not merely an economic objective; it is also the foundation for strengthening social stability and improving people’s well-being. This is also closely aligned with the priorities that ASEAN is facing in the new stage.
Alongside socio-economic development, Viet Nam is also carrying out more substantive and effective external activities that are closely linked to the country’s strategic objectives and make increasingly responsible contributions to regional peace, cooperation and sustainable development.
We consistently pursue a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, self-strengthening, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, multilateralisation and diversification of external relations, and being a responsible member of the international community. Viet Nam attaches great importance to its relations with neighbouring countries, ASEAN, important partners and traditional friends; seeks to deepen cooperation frameworks in a stable, trustworthy and sustainable manner; and actively and responsibly takes part in addressing regional and global issues.
ASEAN is always a strategic priority in Viet Nam’s foreign policy. We are committed to working wholeheartedly with fellow members of the ASEAN family to preserve unity, practically uphold ASEAN’s centrality, and heighten the rule of law, dialogue, and cooperation.
In that spirit, Viet Nam wishes to make greater contributions to ASEAN’s practical cooperation directions and to cooperation between ASEAN and its partners in the coming period, particularly in advancing strategic connectivity, green transition, digital transformation, human resources development, and enhancing the capacity to respond to common challenges. These are all areas that are directly linked to development of each nation, people’s livelihoods and the collective resilience of the region.
We understand that contributing to ASEAN begins with doing our own work better, while at the same time becoming more proactive and responsible in the common affairs. With that spirit, Viet Nam hopes that its renewal and development process will bring forth “a more dynamic and proactive Viet Nam” which engages more effectively, contributes more substantively, and works together with ASEAN member states to build a Community that is more united, more resilient and more closely connected to its people.
After nearly six decades, ASEAN has built a solid foundation for cooperation and an extensive network of connectivity. Our mission now is to transform those valuable foundations into stronger and more effective capacity for action.
I firmly believe that with a spirit of unity, innovation and action, ASEAN will continue to offer a dynamic, resilient and trusted space for development in the region and the world, delivering tangible benefits to the people of every member state.
Thank you very much.
