With a packed programme of activities, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung’s working visit helps promote the image of a Viet Nam that consistently makes proactive, active, and responsible contributions to ASEAN’s construction and development, thereby enhancing the country’s standing and prestige on the international stage and helping to maintain a peaceful, stable, and favourable environment for national development.
The 49th ASEAN Summit and related summits are taking place amid rapid, complex, and unpredictable developments in the global and regional situation. In the face of a host of emerging challenges, ASEAN continues to affirm its central role, promote solidarity and resilience, strengthen regional cooperation and connectivity, proactively adapt to changing circumstances, and accelerate the implementation of its strategic orientations.
The theme of ASEAN Year 2026, “Navigating Our Future, Together”, affirms the strong determination to steer the ASEAN “ship” through “rough seas”, enhance its resilience against external pressures and generate new growth momentum, towards a future of solidarity, peace, stability, and prosperity.
The more difficulties ASEAN faces, the more clearly its member states recognise and appreciate the value of regional cooperation, dialogue, and connectivity. As ASEAN Chair for 2026, the Philippines has made efforts to advance cooperation goals and priorities, largely fulfilling its role in leading and coordinating the association’s activities. Since the 48th ASEAN Summit in May 2026, the association has stepped up the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, alongside cooperation priorities and decisions made by ASEAN leaders.
Determination and a shared spirit of working together have yielded positive results. ASEAN’s economic growth outlook for 2026 is considered favourable, while economic integration, resilience-building, economic security, and market diversification have continued to be advanced through new cooperation and integration frameworks. ASEAN has largely maintained an environment of peace and stability and upheld international law and common principles and norms of conduct, while expanding and deepening relations with its partners, creating further momentum, and new opportunities for cooperation.
The 49th ASEAN Summit is of great significance, providing an opportunity to review the cooperation achievements during the Philippines’ ASEAN Chairmanship while setting out the next steps to consolidate ASEAN’s role, standing, and adaptability. The participation of numerous leaders from partner countries also demonstrates ASEAN’s strong appeal, important role, and firm standing, while opening opportunities to promote substantive and effective cooperation across various fields.
Over more than 30 years of accompanying ASEAN, Viet Nam has made proactive, active, substantive, and responsible contributions to the association’s development and institution-building process. Viet Nam has proactively proposed and promoted practical initiatives, while affirming its leading role, notably through the strategic and comprehensive orientations and measures to enhance ASEAN’s capacity to respond to challenges proposed by Prime Minister Le Minh Hung at the recent 48th ASEAN Summit. ASEAN has become an important strategic space, closely linked to Viet Nam’s development and international standing.
Viet Nam’s bilateral relations with ASEAN member states and partners have also continued to grow, becoming increasingly substantive, deep, and trust-based, particularly through important external relations activities undertaken by key Vietnamese leaders. Viet Nam has worked to promote its core role in Mekong subregional cooperation mechanisms and advance economic, scientific, and technological cooperation; innovation; and digital transformation, among other areas.
At the 49th ASEAN Summit and related summits, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung will deliver important speeches, sharing Viet Nam’s views on ASEAN’s priorities and development orientations and putting forward practical proposals to advance the ASEAN Community-building process, thereby helping strengthen solidarity, enhance resilience and strategic autonomy, and proactively respond to challenges. Building on the country’s foundations, potential and standing after 40 years of Doi Moi (Renewal), Viet Nam is determined to continue contributing to shaping strategic transitions for ASEAN’s future.
The participation of Prime Minister Le Minh Hung and the high-level Vietnamese delegation to the 49th ASEAN Summit and related summits in the Philippines will contribute to the effective implementation of the foreign policy set out at the 14th National Party Congress, as well as the resolutions, directives, and conclusions of the Political Bureau and the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on international integration, particularly multilateral diplomacy and participation in ASEAN and Mekong subregional cooperation mechanisms.
The visit also reaffirms Viet Nam’s strong support for the Philippines in its capacity as ASEAN Chair for 2026, while highlighting the image of a dynamic and innovative Viet Nam that is actively pursuing deep international integration, has an increasingly prominent standing on the international stage, and is always committed to contributing to an even brighter future for the ASEAN Community.
