ASEAN and Viet Nam were ready to co-operate with the Group of Twenty (G-20) to carry out its development agenda, affirmed Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Dung made the statement while talking on the theme of global economy and a framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth at the G20 Seoul Summit in the Republic of Korea (RoK) yesterday.

He praised the first-ever policy combination at regional and global levels under the G-20’s guidance as the largest contributor to the quick rebound of the global economy.

He recommended that the G-20 consider establishing a pilot policy consultation mechanism with a number of regional organisations, including ASEAN, to exchange information and views on regional and global financial and economic issues and implement the G-20’s important decisions collectively.

Dung hailed G-20 countries, especially the host, for putting development issues on the agenda of the G-20 Seoul Summit.

He recommended that the G-20 continue prioritising development issues in its future summit agendas and take measures to assist developing nations, especially those categorised as middle-income countries, to help them avoid falling back into the lower category.

He suggested the G-20 consider establishing a knowledge sharing network with the participation of G-20 member and non-member states.

On the theme of climate change and green development, Dung also asked G-20 nations to do their best to reach a deal to cope with global climate change after 2012 at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Mexico later this month.

The Prime Minister put forth two initiatives: a special fund to assist badly affected countries and a climate-change forum for coastal countries.

He praised the International Development Association’s contributions to helping poor and developing nations and recommended that G-20 nations continue financing its 16th action plan.

Concerning Viet Nam’s initiative agreed at a meeting between Vietnamese and Dutch Prime Ministers on the sideline of the G-20 Toronto Summit in June, the two countries had jointly finalised the Viet Nam - Netherlands common stance on key G-20 issues, including development issues, climate change and green development.

Viet Nam as the ASEAN Chair had collaborated with other ASEAN nations to compile the ASEAN common stance on G-20 issues that had been made known to other countries and international organisations.

Prime Minister Dung and his entourage left Seoul yesterday evening, ending his trip to Seoul to attend the G-20 Summit at the invitation of RoK President Lee Myung-Bak.

PM meets leaders

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday met with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong and ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan prior to the plenary session of the G-20 Summit.

The meeting was initiated by Viet Nam, aimed at sharing information and seeking a consensus between Viet Nam, Singapore and the ASEAN Secretariat on the bloc’s participation and initiatives at the G-20 Summit as well as stepping up bilateral co-operation between the two groups.

As the Chair of ASEAN 2010, Dung said that Viet Nam had worked together with other ASEAN member nations to draft documents regarding the bloc’s common viewpoints on the summit’s agenda as well as Viet Nam’s proposals to be discussed at the summit, including the suggestion for the formalisation of G-20’s invitation to the ASEAN Chair to attend G-20 summits.

These documents also cover ASEAN’s recommendations related to the global economy, world trade, reforms of international financial institutions, sustainable development, climate change and the protection of maritime ecological environment.

Dung stressed that the G20 Summit’s agenda should focus on assistance to not only underdeveloped and low-income countries but also developing nations, including ASEAN members, to help them avoid falling into the “middle-income trap” or dropping back into the group of low-income states due to changes in the regional and world economies.

Both Lee and Pitsuwan applauded and affirmed their support for Viet Nam’s initiatives and proposals, saying the country had shown an active role as the Chair of ASEAN at the important forum.

Later yesterday morning, the first plenary session of the G-20 summit opened in Seoul, focusing on issues related to trade imbalance and monetary policies.

Source: VNS