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Viet
Nam has played its role as Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) well in 2010, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung remarked on the final day
of the country’s term.
 | | Photo: Vietnam+ | The following is the
full text of the speech made by the Prime Minister on the occasion: “Today, the 31st
December, 2010, Viet Nam officially concludes its term as the rotating Chair of
ASEAN. We are all pleased and proud as Viet Nam has done a good job in the
position, obtaining a maximum level of all set targets and making a deep mark of
its own both in terms of the content as well as in organisation and management
work. The year’s success was manifested by important results of long-lasting
significance for the interests of ASEAN and the region as well as our country,”
the PM said. He went on to say that
for ASEAN, its member countries’ common determination and efforts under the
theme “Towards the ASEAN Community: from vision to action” had made substantial
changes and realised an important step toward the target of forming the ASEAN
Community by 2015. The ASEAN connectivity shifted towards action and
practicality; with concrete progress made in the implementation of the ASEAN
Charter and the Roadmap to build the ASEAN Community based on three major
pillars: political-security, economic and socio-cultural, as well as in other
important plans, especially the ASEAN Connectivity Master Plan. ASEAN’s external
ties and central role in the region were strengthened and promoted, manifested
by new and significant developments of the regional co-operation frameworks in
which ASEAN played a decisive role such as ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3, the East-Asia
Summit (EAS), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’
Meeting Plus (ADMM+). ASEAN also made important contributions to international
forums such as APEC, ASEM, the G20 and the United Nations. Partners have been
attaching greater importance to the relationship with ASEAN, supporting its
central role in the region, intensifying multifaceted co-operation, and
increasing commitments to assist ASEAN in various forms, including financial
assistance. “For the East Asia
region, an environment of peace, security, co-operation and development has been
strengthened and developed. Through utilising regional peace and security
mechanisms and instruments, ASEAN worked to obtain positive changes in an effort
to increase dialogues and co-operation, build confidence and share conduct
standards regarding political-security issues, including complicated ones such
as the East Sea and the Korean Peninsula. The co-operation towards a sustainable
development and preparedness for coping with global challenges, particularly
climate change and natural disasters prevention along with the sub-regional
Mekong co-operation, also saw remarkable progress within ASEAN itself as well as
between ASEAN and its partners through the ASEAN+1, ASEAN+3 and EAS frameworks,”
the PM said. According to the PM,
Viet Nam had fulfilled at the highest level all set targets in strengthening
ASEAN solidarity and co-operation, promoting a more favourable regional
environment for the country’s security and development as well as improving its
international role and position. The country
implemented well the tasks of the ASEAN Chair under the motto of “activeness,
taking initiative and responsibility”, proposed the right themes and focuses for
co-operation, and put forth valuable initiatives and suitable measures, Dung
stressed. Viet Nam also
completed the compilation of many important documents, successfully chaired and
organised many successive meetings as well as made appropriate co-ordination and
settlements to reach a consensus on major ASEAN decisions and on several
complicated issues, he added. The PM went on to say
that countries’ leaders and delegates as well as domestic and international
opinions spoke highly of Viet Nam’s organisation and monitoring of conferences
and its dynamic and agile guiding role. He added that the
country had also seized the opportunity when foreign leaders attended ASEAN
events to hold bilateral talks and meetings during which many important
agreements were reached, thus helping boost the comprehensive and practical
development of bilateral ties between Viet Nam and those countries, PM Dung
said. Viet Nam also made the
best use of opportunities to promote the country, people, history, culture and
development potential of Viet Nam to countries’ leaders and delegates as well as
the international press, he noted. The results reached
during the year that Viet Nam sat in the ASEAN Chair in particular and the
country’s 15-year ASEAN participation in general again affirmed the strategic
importance and long-term interests of Viet Nam’s membership of ASEAN, an
important part of the country’s foreign policy of independence, self-control,
diversification and multilateralisation of relations and taking the initiative
in regional and international integration. The government leader
stated that Viet Nam’s great efforts and important contributions to ASEAN once
again confirmed the country’s consistent policy of attaching importance to ASEAN
in both multilateral co-operation and bilateral relations as well as of doing
its utmost for a stronger and more united ASEAN with close connectivity. The success of the
ASEAN presidency year marked Viet Nam’s considerable maturity in the regional
and international integration process, he said, adding that the country could
draw many valuable lessons, especially on the clear-sighted and timely steering
of the Party and State; the close co-ordination among ministries, agencies and
localities; the dedication, activeness and responsibility of officials who
directly participated in ASEAN activities; and the thorough grasp and skilful
application of the Party and State’s principles and guidelines regarding
external relations, particularly in multilateral diplomacy. On the occasion, PM
Dung applauded the efforts made by all ministries, agencies, localities and
bodies in the National Committee for ASEAN 2010 and officials who directly
served activities during the 2010 ASEAN presidency year. The PM, on behalf of
the Vietnamese Government and people, extended sincere thanks to the governments
and peoples of ASEAN member nations as well as the bloc’s partner countries for
their valuable support and assistance to Viet Nam as the ASEAN Chair. He expressed his wish
that Indonesia, the ASEAN Chair 2011, will continue to take ASEAN to new
successes in the common efforts towards the establishment of the ASEAN Community
in 2015. In conclusion, the
Vietnamese PM wished ASEAN a successful new year. VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News | 
