He was talking with a Vietnam News Agency correspondent on the Vietnamese delegation’s contributions to the 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-42) and related meetings, which concluded in Phuket, Thailand on July 23. 

According to Deputy PM Khiem, Vietnam came up with practical suggestions to speed up the implementation of a work plan for the second phase of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) on narrowing the development gap in the bloc under the ASEAN Community’s roadmap.

Vietnam underscored the need to beef up coordination between different ASEAN state departments and defined the priorities for each stage of these plans, Deputy PM Khiem said. 

He said that Vietnam has made an active contribution to strengthening solidarity and consensus within the ASEAN and promoting the association’s role in regional issues. 

“With a balanced and constructive voice, Vietnam actively joined other ASEAN member countries in dealing with differences when compiling the Terms of Reference for the new ASEAN human rights body, and contributed to the drawing up of legal documents for carrying out the ASEAN Charter,” Mr. Khiem said. 

Vietnam also contributed to the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and strengthening cooperation in the Mekong River Sub-region, including the preservation of water sources. 

“Vietnam made an important contribution to boosting relations between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, particularly in implementing agreements between all the concerned parties,” Khiem said. 

According to him, Vietnam performed very well in its role as coordinator for the ASEAN-Canada talks, and helped to speed up the compilation of the ASEAN-Canada joint statement on enhanced partnership for ratification at this meeting, thus deepening bilateral relations. These efforts by Vietnam were appreciated by ASEAN member countries and Canada, Khiem added. 

At this year’s meeting, Vietnam officially assumed its role as coordinator in the ASEAN-China dialogue relationship, the Deputy PM said.

He added that Vietnam has worked with the other ASEAN members to uphold the efficiency of regional security maintenance mechanisms such as the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) and the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ). 

The ASEAN member countries have worked together to ensure the bloc’s leading role in ASEAN+3, the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). 
Vietnam held preliminary discussions with the other ASEAN member nations on a number of issues regarding its preparations for undertaking the ASEAN presidency in 2010. 

On the sidelines of the AMM-42, Deputy PM Khiem met with senior representatives from New Zealand, Canada and Australia to elaborate on a number of measures to foster bilateral relations, as well as to exchange views on issues of mutual concern within the ASEAN cooperation mechanisms.