270/ Vietnam raises proposals to help ASEM bolster multilateral cooperation
26 December 2019
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh raised some proposals to help the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) enhance its role in fostering multilateral cooperation, while addressing the 14th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid on December 16.
The meeting gathered foreign ministers and officials of the 53 ASEM members, consisting of 21 Asian and 30 European countries, the European Union (EU) and the ASEAN Secretariat.
In his speech, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Minh emphasised that multilateral cooperation mechanisms, with the United Nations at the centre, have established their indispensable role over the last 75 years.
However, he also pointed out that multilateralism is facing unprecedented challenges, particularly fierce competition among countries, increasing trade disputes, anti-globalisation, extensive impact of digital technology risks, climate change, growing inequality, economic and trade growth stagnation, and unsustainable habits on the environment.
For the ASEM to keep its leading role in fostering multilateral cooperation, rules-based international order, as well as its strategic role in decades to come, Minh proposed its members affirm the fundamental role of international law and the UN Charter in international relations and multilateral cooperation.
He also called on them to design a new agenda matching the current context, along with an overall approach to multilateral cooperation at all levels, from regional, inter-regional to global levels, which must centre on the people and pay attention to peace, traditional and non-traditional issues.
Additionally, it is also necessary to step up the reform of multilateral institutions, especially the UN and the WTO, so as to adapt to the changes of the era and effectively deal with urgent issues for the people, the official added.
The Deputy PM also stressed the special position of multilateral cooperation in Vietnam’s foreign policy, highlighting the country’s strong commitment to realising the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
He proposed a high-level ASEM dialogue on economic empowerment to women in the digital era be held in Vietnam in 2020. Many ASEM members, including Australia, China, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and Norway, supported this initiative.
In his speech, Minh also noted as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 and ASEAN Chair in 2020, Vietnam will continue joining hands with other ASEM members to strengthen the vitality of the multilateral system and bolster the ASEM partnership in global issues for the sake of peace and sustainable development in the two regions and the world.
Source: NDO/VNA
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267