PM Dung and ASEAN leaders welcomed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to the 12^th ASEAN-China Summit and expressed their delight at the fine development of ASEAN-China relations.

Vietnam will do its best to enhance the ASEAN-China strategic partnership and come up with measures to promote cooperation in economics and trade in the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area and early implement the ASEAN-China Fund on Investment Cooperation worth US$10 billion and plan to provide a US$15 billion commercial credit.

Vietnam will join efforts to protect the environment, cope with climate change, control and prevent infectious diseases and maintain peace and stability in the East Sea and in the region on a basis of observing and implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, said Mr Dung.

At the 12^th ASEAN-Japan Summit, ASEAN leaders acknowledged positive developments in ASEAN-Japan cooperation.

PM Dung said in the face of the global economic downturn, ASEAN and Japan should give priority to boosting cooperation in economics, trade and finance while effectively implementing the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

The two sides should promote dialogues and strategic cooperation in the post-crisis period, help ASEAN to narrow the development gap, build an ASEAN Community and support development projects in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) and within the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam development triangle and the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC).

It is essential to increase cooperation in coping with global challenges such as energy security, climate change, the environment, natural disasters, epidemics, terrorism and transnational crime, Mr Dung emphasised.

Speaking at the 12^th ASEAN- Republic of Korea (RoK) Summit, PM Dung stressed that the success of the ASEAN-RoK Summit held on Jeju Island in last June added fresh impetus to making the ASEAN-RoK comprehensive partnership more substantive and effective. Vietnam praises the RoK’s “New Asia Initiative”, including “Initiative on cooperation and development with ASEAN”.

Later in the afternoon, PM Dung attended the 7^th ASEAN-India Summit in which, he shared his common evaluation with ASEAN leaders on the positive development of the ASEAN-India strategic partnership.

Mr Dung called on both sides to allocate human resources to a number of priority areas such as economics, trade, science and technology, biology, food security, energy, health care and education.

The Vietnamese government leader appreciated the initial results of the negotiation on the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement and asked India to help ASEAN to step up regional links and narrow the development gap.

He also thanked India for supporting the establishment of an English training centre and a business development centre in Vietnam and for recognizing the country’s full market economy status.