ASEAN’s 54th founding anniversary celebrated in Mexico

Addressing the function, Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Nguyen Hoanh Nam, who is also the ACMC’s rotating president, reviewed major development achievements ASEAN has recorded for more than half a century, noting the grouping strives to build a united and strong community, making an important contribution to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large.

Nam affirmed that the establishment of the ASEAN Community in 2015 based on three pillars of politics - security, economy and culture - society brings about important and practical benefits to each member country and further enhances ASEAN’s central role in the regional architecture.

The ambassador emphasized that ASEAN needs to promote relations with Mexico in all aspects, especially in economy, trade, investment, tourism and culture, while at the same time through Mexico strengthening cooperative relations with the Pacific Alliance comprised of Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

The ASEAN ambassadors to Mexico also reviewed the results of the ACMC’s activities in the first seven months and set out action plans for the remaining months of the year. They agreed to further strengthen intra-regional solidarity and boost trade relations with Mexico.

The ASEAN Committee in Mexico City is comprised of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Statistics from the Mexican Ministry of Economy show trade turnover between Mexico and the five ASEAN countries have grown by an average 10% per year reaching more than US$28 billion last year.