Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh
is one of the four delegation heads invited to deliver a speech at the
event’s first session under the heading of “Synergizing peace and
sustainable development.”
Delegates in a joint photo. Photo: Vietnam+
Themed “Strengthening partnership for peace and sustainable
development,” the two-day meeting includes three sessions, during which
the ministers will discuss measures to enhance cooperation in areas of
shared concern, as well as partnerships in implementing sustainable
development goals (SDGs), combating climate change, mitigating and
managing natural disasters, ensuring food, energy and water resource
security, and narrowing development gap.
They will also seek ways to make the ASEM partnership more dynamic
and connected in such realms as people-to-people exchange, transport,
tourism, culture, education, trade and investment, along with comparing
notes on other regional and international issues.
Since 1996, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) has become an important
dialogue mechanism between the two continents, bringing together 53
members, including four permanent members of the UN Security Council and
12 members of the group of the world’s 20 largest developing and
emerging markets (G20). ASEM makes up 68 percent of population and
contributes about 55 percent of the GDP and nearly 60 percent of trade
globally.
As one of the founding members of ASEM, Vietnam has actively
participated in the Asia-Europe cooperation, with the most noteworthy
being the country’s hosting of the fifth ASEM Summit in 2004 and other
ASEM ministerial meetings.
Vietnam has proposed 22 initiatives itself and coordinated with
other members to raise 26 initiatives, which all have been materialized.
Such initiatives mainly focus on culture, health care, transport, food
and energy security, climate change, science-technology, tourism,
economy, green growth and social welfare.
The country has participated in five out of 16 cooperation groups
of water resource management, climate change response and vocational
training, education and human resource development, and technological
connectivity.
At the end of the event, the ministers are scheduled to adopt a
Chair’s Statement of the ASEMFMM13, an action program for 2017-2019
and new initiatives, including Vietnam’s initiative on the ASEM
conference on joint actions in response to climate change to realize
SDGs.
Source: VNA