Like other ASEAN member countries, Indonesia has been preparing to attend the summit scheduled for next week in Hanoi.

In a recent interview granted to a Radio Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reporter, Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam, Pitomo Purnomo said Indonesia attaches great importance to this event and praises Vietnam’s role as ASEAN Chair.

Reporter: Could you please tell about preparations Indonesia has made for the upcoming ASEAN 16?

Mr Pitomo: Indonesia regards all ASEAN meetings, including the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), Ministerial Meetings and other related meetings as important events, laying a foundation for building an ASEAN community in 2015 and approving the ASEAN Charter. Therefore, ASEAN 16 will represent a historic landmark in realising the ASEAN community.

The Indonesian delegation to the summit led by the President will consist of more than 150 members, including the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Trade along with other ministers and senior officials. Indonesia will also attend the Financial Ministers’ Meeting slated for April 7-8 in Nha Trang. Since early March, Indonesia actively took part in SOM which was held in HCM City from March 5-6.

Reporter: What is your assessment of the policy aimed at building a united ASEAN community in 2015?

Mr Pitomo: As ASEAN Chair, Vietnam has underlined priorities on building a united association and fully implementing the ASEAN Charter to raise the bloc’s status to a higher level. ASEAN has put forth the initiative of building three main pillars: political security, economics and culture so we should boost closer cooperation to help ASEAN get more involved in regional forums. We acknowledge Vietnam’s leading role in reaching the target by dealing with strategic issues for regional interests and closely cooperating with all regional countries to implement ASEAN’s programmes and plans.

To reach this goal, we should map out a specific roadmap for narrowing the development gap between member countries. Six of the ten ASEAN nations are at a higher development level and the rest remain at a lower level.

Reporter: What will Indonesia expect from Vietnam’s role of ASEAN Chair?

Mr Pitomo:  Vietnam set up the National Committee for ASEAN 2010 in 2009, led by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and chaired by Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem. This has showed Vietnam’s willingness to assume the ASEAN Chairmanship.  The theme Vietnam has proposed for its Year as ASEAN Chair is “Towards an ASEAN Community: From Vision to Action”.  We can see the country’s efforts to prepare for ASEAN 16 by organising a series of meetings in Danang and HCM City.

The success of the 16^th ASEAN Summit (ASEAN 16) will showcase Vietnam’s role as chair in the initial period of realising the ASEAN Charter towards building an ASEAN community in 2015 and demonstrate ASEAN’s positive participation in the International community.

Reporter: Thank you so much.