A series of post ministerial conferences between ASEAN and its 10 dialogue partners was held in Hanoi on July 22.

The dialogue partners include China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, the EU, the US, and Canada.

At these meetings, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers and their counterparts reviewed relationships in the past year and devised measures to promote future cooperation.

The main agendas of the meetings included strengthening cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, from supporting ASEAN in realising its community-building goal and promoting connectivity to addressing emerging challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, epidemics, and maritime security.

The meetings also discussed preparations for the important related summits to be held before the end of this year and compared notes on enhancing regional cooperation, including the possibility of wider participation and deeper engagement of dialogue partners in the process of shaping the regional architecture.

The delegates said PMCs+1 was successful as the dialogue partners reaffirmed their support for ASEAN’s central role in the region and shared the bloc’s common vision of a future regional architecture that will be multi-level, mutually-supportive, and built upon existing mechanisms.

They also praised Vietnam’s organisational role and its efforts to promote the development of ASEAN.

On the afternoon of July 23, the 43^rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-43) and related meetings closed. Earlier in the morning, a closed session of the 17^th ASEAN regional Forum (ARF-17) was held. On the occasion, Foreign Minister Assistant and Head of Vietnam’s ASEAN senior officials meeting (SOM) delegation Pham Quang Vinh granted an interview to the media.

Reporter: Many issues have been discussed at the ASEAN related meetings. In what issue has Vietnam’s role been shown in the Year of its ASEAN Chair?

Mr Vinh: As ASEAN Chair in 2010, Vietnam has initiated a key theme of “Toward the ASEAN Community: From Vision to Action” to define priority issues.

The country has prepared topics and drafted documents for ASEAN related meetings with a focus on ASEAN’s determination to build an ASEAN community and expand the bloc’s cooperation with its partners for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity.

Reporter: A total of 20 important meetings were held from July 17-23 during the ASEAN Week including ARF-17 which captured the attention of ASEAN’s major partners such as China and the EU. What is the main content of the ARF?

Mr Vinh:  ARF-17 - a leading forum in terms of dialogues on regional security and politics, attracted representatives of 27 ASEAN partners.

At the forum, ASEAN ministers and partners discussed orientations for ARF’s development in the future towards realizing a vision of an ARF of peace, stability and development.

They also discussed regional and international issues of common concern including the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), The Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapons-Free-Zone (SEANWFZ) Treaty and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC). The ARF approved the Hanoi Action Programme on ARF vision through 2020.

Reporter: In his opening speech delivered at the 43^rd AMM, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasised ASEAN’s role in maintaining stability and peace in the Asia Pacific region. What specific measures were focused on at ARF 17 to fulfill this role?

Mr Vinh: This is a shared goal of ASEAN members and is a major issue to be discussed between ASEAN and its partners. ASEAN should create a peaceful and stable environment by implementing TAC, SEANWFZ and DOC and effectively performing its key role in the regional cooperation process and coordinating with partners to promote confidence-building within the bloc.

Reporter: Thank you so much.