Vietnamese missions abroad celebrate ASEAN’s founding anniversary

Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in its capacity as ASEAN Chair in New York hosted a virtual ceremony on August 7 to celebrate the 53rd founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (August 8).

The ASEAN flag (Photo: thcasean.org)
The ASEAN flag (Photo: thcasean.org)

The ceremony was attended by President of the UN General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad Bande, UN Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare, UN Assistant Secretary-General Alexander Zuev and more than 4,000 delegates from UN member states.

Bande applauded ASEAN’s key role in maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region and expressed his wish to further enhance close cooperation between ASEAN and the UN in various fields such as peacekeeping, counterterrorism, natural disaster mitigation, climate change, protection of labourers, gender equality and children’s rights.

He welcomed ASEAN’s efforts in promoting sustainable development and enhancing links between the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Khare also expressed his desire to step up close cooperation between ASEAN and the UN, especially in peacekeeping and building peacekeeping capacity, and thanked ASEAN member nations for sending 5,000 servicepersons, including servicewomen, to UN peacekeeping missions.

Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, he said, ASEAN may play an important role in dealing with the current challenges.

He took this occasion to thank Vietnam for helping the UN’s COVID-19 medical evacuation force to bring UN staff infected with the coronavirus to high-quality treatment facilities as well as providing technical training for nations sending servicepersons to peacekeeping missions within the ASEAN-UN cooperation framework.

On behalf of the ASEAN member states, Head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the UN Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy said ASEAN has been developing strongly since its inception 53 years ago, emerging from a war-torn region to a region of peace, stability, prosperity and dynamic development.

These achievements are attributed to the efforts of ASEAN people and the close relations with partner and friend nations around the world as well as the UN, he stressed.

The ambassador affirmed the commitment to join hands with other nations to further promote ASEAN-UN relations in the fields of politics, economy, culture and social affairs.

The Embassies of ASEAN member states in Venezuela held a ceremony in Caracas on August 7 to celebrate the 53rd founding anniversary of the regional grouping, with Venezuelan Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for Asia, the Middle East and Oceania Ruben Molina in attendance.

Speaking on the behalf of the ASEAN Committee in Caracas, Vietnamese Ambassador Le Viet Duyenhighlighted achievements made by ASEAN in recent years, saying that with a population of more than 679 million and GDP of over 3 trillion USD, the bloc has become one of the world’s most successful regional organisations and an important partner of many countries around the world.

ASEAN has entered a new era of development with a target of building the ASEAN Community based on three pillars: Political-Security Community, Economic Community, and Socio-Cultural Community, he said.

This year is significant to building the ASEAN Community in the ASEAN Vision 2025 and to strengthening relations with its partners, he said, adding that against the backdrop of regional and global uncertainties, ASEAN has always maintained its unity and consensus on dealing with issues regarding regional peace and security.

He further noted that in the face of rising global trade tensions and protectionism, ASEAN is committed to promoting trading of goods and capital among member states and accelerating negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between ASEAN nations and six partners, including China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand.

As ASEAN Chair this year, Vietnam has given priority to closely coordinating with other member states to uphold ASEAN’s centrality in maintaining peace, security and stability in the region, fostering intra-bloc connectivity and integration, seizing opportunities from the fourth Industrial Revolution, raising community awareness and identity, enhancing cooperation with partners for peace and sustainable development, and promoting ASEAN’s role and contributions to the global community.

Duyen vowed to work closely the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry to strengthen and expand relations between the two sides.

He took the occasion to present the ASEAN’s donation of medical supplies to help the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

For his part, Molina voiced his hope to further reinforce ties between Venezuela and ASEAN as well as Venezuela and the bloc’s member states. He particularly expected that Venezuela will soon sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) with ASEAN.

The Embassy of Vietnam in Switzerland has hosted a ceremony to mark the 53rd founding anniversary of ASEAN and presided over the first meeting of the ASEAN Committee in Bern (ACB) in its capacity as the chair of the committee.

In her opening remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador Le LinhLan said over the past five decades after it was founded, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become a widely-recognised regional organisation that plays an important role in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia.

The ambassador also recalled milestones in Vietnam’s admission to and membership of ASEAN over the last 25 years, noting in the face of COVID-19 wreaking havoc in the region and the world, Vietnam, as ASEAN Chair 2020, has promptly shifted the focus of the bloc’s cooperation to fighting the pandemic and actively developed a master plan for ASEAN’s post-pandemic recovery.

During the ACB's meeting, the ambassadors of ASEAN member states discussed the current situation of the disease and its impacts on relations between ASEAN and Switzerland.

They emphasised that the ACB should further promote ASEAN’s image in Switzerland, prioritise holding political and economic activities and promotion of cooperation with Switzerland in healthcare, and foster exchange of policies with local universities and research institutions.

The same day, the Vietnamese Embassy in South Africa hoisted the ASEAN flag to mark the bloc’s 53rd founding anniversary.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Van Loi said as ASEAN Chair 2020, Vietnam has been trying its best to leading the bloc to seize opportunities and effectively respond to challenges in the “Cohesive and Responsive” spirit.

As South Africa is planning to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) this year, relations between South Africa and ASEAN in general and its member states in particular, including Vietnam, are expected to see new and strong development steps, especially in the fields of economy-trade and coordination at regional and international forums, Loi added.