Mr Dung said the organisation of the meeting testified to the four countries’ determination to narrow the development distance of ASEAN nations and proposed building a common mechanism for diversifying forms of cooperation and promoting bilateral cooperation among countries in the region.

Vietnam wants Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to continue promoting trade and investment with the country by expanding goods and service markets, exploiting and processing minerals, planting high-value industrial crops and effectively tapping available potential of each country, Mr Dung said.

Before concluding the meeting, the four countries’ leaders reached a high consensus on nine areas and 31 important measures in their action program aimed at promoting cooperation in agriculture, industry, energy, transport, technology, communication, tourism and human resource development.

They also adopted a joint statement and agreed that their four meeting will be held in Vietnam at the end of this year.

Earlier, PM Dung met with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong who

Singaporean enterprises are keen to do business in Vietnam and Singapore is ready to enhance cooperation with Vietnam in all fields particularly in investment, trade and education.

PM Dung and ASEAN leaders also met with famous authors of the ASEAN Charter. The 12^th ASEAN Summit will officially open on January 13.

***The ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the ASEAN+3 Meeting with dialogue partners including China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and India took place in Cebu from January 11-12. The Vietnamese delegation was led by Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem.

Ministers reviewed the implementation of ASEAN action plans and programmes and considered documents for approval at the 12^th ASEAN Summit, including a statement on building an ASEAN Community by 2015, a statement on the ASEAN Charter, a statement on promoting and protecting immigrated labourers and a statement on HIV/AIDS prevention.

On this occasion, Mr Khiem also attended the Vietnam- Laos –Cambodia Ministerial Meeting with Japan to discuss measures aimed at promoting economic and trade relations among the four countries, particularly cooperation in the sub-Mekong region and Japan’s aid for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in building the Development Triangle.

The same day, Mr Khiem also met with the Indian Foreign Minister to discuss ways of strengthening bilateral cooperation.