At the event in Hanoi, ERIA Senior Communication Advisor Kavi Chongkittavorn said there are seven important issues during the year Vietnam holds the ASEAN chairmanship, and the country’s success depends on its settlement of these challenges.

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At the discussion (Photo: tapchithongtindoingoai.vn)

According to him, the issues Vietnam will need to handle include the ASEAN-US summit to be held in the US in the first quarter, the progress of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the negotiation on the draft Code of Conduct in the East Sea with six meetings planned for 2020, and whether ASEAN will enhance its role in the peace process between the two Koreas and the denuclearisation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It will also have to deal with how to represent ASEAN to accelerate the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, how ASEAN can realise the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, and how to ensure leaders of some important partners like US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in the 15th East Asia Summit in Hanoi in November, he said.

CIEM Director Tran Thi Hong Minh said as ASEAN Chair in 2020, Vietnam has the responsibility of consolidating the bloc’s solidarity, unanimity, and capacity; promoting its development; and fostering regional connectivity and economic connectivity. At the same time, the country will make efforts towards improving ASEAN’s responsiveness to swift changes in the world situation and emerging challenges.

Chongkittavorn held that Vietnam will hold the ASEAN chairmanship in an active and trustworthy manner, solidify the bloc’s central role, ensure the consistency with the frameworks approved in the years Thailand and Singapore held the chairmanship, and connect its ASEAN chairmanship with its role in the United Nations Security Council at the regional and global levels.

The ERIA is set to coordinate with the Vietnamese side to organise a roundtable meeting with editors in Hanoi this October. Over the last 10 years, it has organised similar events in the countries holding the ASEAN chairmanship to improve local press agencies’ knowledge of ASEAN-related issues.

Source: VNA