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ASEAN will make a greater effort to promote cooperation with its partners to reinforce the bloc’s central role in regional cooperation and improve its position in the international community, said ASEAN foreign ministers in meetings with their counterparts in Hanoi on July 22.

Photo: VNN

In their meetings, ASEAN foreign ministers and their counterparts agreed that they will work closely together to build an ASEAN Community, narrow the development gap, and boost connectivity in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and other regions in the world.

In a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, both sides agreed to hold a second ASEAN-US meeting in 2010 to review achievements and make plans for future cooperation.

The US will be a dynamic partner of ASEAN – a large market of 600 million consumers - and will help the bloc to become more prosperous, said Clinton, adding that she hopes ASEAN-US cooperation will increase in the future.

In the ASEAN-EU working session, ASEAN foreign ministers approved EU’s joining the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and called it a code of conduct for the peace, stability, and growth of the Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific regions.

While working with Chinese Foreign Minister, the ASEAN FMs expressed a desire for a peaceful and prosperous East Asia. They acknowledged China’s support for the establishment of an ASEAN Community.

Hidenobu Sobashima, vice spokesperson for the Japanese Foreign Ministry, voiced his country’s support for ASEAN initiatives to form the community and announced that Japan will host an international conference on coping with global disasters in August. He anticipated the participation and support of ASEAN countries.

In the meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister, both sides discussed preparations for the second ASEAN-Russia meeting in October and issued a joint declaration concerning an action plan for the relationship after 2010. They consented to establish a group of senior officials to consider each other’s recommendation, policies and programmes of actions.

VietNamNet/VOV