Hanoi (VNA) – Senior officials of ASEAN membercountries and Canada sought ways to further foster their partnership at the19th ASEAN - Canada Dialogue at the SOM head level which was held virtually onJune 21.

Addressing the event, Assistant Foreign Minister and Head ofSOM Canada Paul Thoppil affirmed that his country always attaches greatimportance to 45-year-ties with ASEAN, and underlined that ASEAN and theSoutheast Asian region play a core role in the Indo-Pacific Strategy thatCanada is going to announce. He said Canada hoped to engage deeper intoregional cooperation through ASEAN-led mechanisms.

In order to celebrate the 45-year partnership between the twosides (1977-2022), Thoppil proposed organising an ASEAN-Canada CommemorativeSummit in late 2022 in Cambodia and lift up their ties to a strategicpartnership.

The ASEAN member countries lauded Canada’s cooperation andsupport to the association over the years, including a commitment ofcontributing 3.5 million CAD (2.7 million USD) in five years to the ASEAN Fundfor COVID-19 Response, 2 million CAD (1.54 million USD) to the ASEANCoordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management, and 8.5million CAD (6.55 million USD) to the promotion of cooperation in implementingagenda related to women, peace and security. Canada has also announced 201scholarships to ASEAN within the Canada-ASEAN Scholarships and EducationalExchanges for Development (SEED) programme for the 2022-2023 period.

Agreeing that the development potential of the bilateral partnershipremains high, the ASEAN member countries and Canada concurred to continue tosupport each other to control and stamp out COVID-19, while increasingcooperation activities through the effective implementation of a joint actionplan for the 2021-2025 period.

The two sides will strengthen trade and investment exchange,and step up negotiations on an ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement. They willcollaborate in combating terrorism and trans-national crimes, while fosteringties in education, training, high-quality human resource development, climatechange response, and narrowing development gaps.

Canada showed its willingness to continue expanding thebilateral cooperation to areas where both sides have strengths and demand tofurther bolster their partnership.

In the face of complicated regional and internationaldevelopments, ASEAN and Canada emphasised the need to join hands to ensure apeaceful, secure and stable environment in the region, including security andsafety of navigation in the regional seas, thus facilitating recovery,cooperation and development. 

Canada affirmed its support for ASEAN's role and efforts inpromoting dialogue, cooperation, and trust-building in the region as well asits principled stance on the East Sea issue, and attempts to fully andeffectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea(DOC) and build an effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) inaccordance with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on theLaw of the Sea (UNCLOS). 

The Head of SOM Canada expressed his concern about thecurrent situation in Myanmar, and reaffirmed his support for ASEAN's efforts topromote dialogue and reconciliation in Myanmar as well as the bloc's assistanceto the country to stabilise the situation soon.

Ambassador Vu Ho, acting Head of ASEAN SOM Vietnam,underlined that as each other’s important partner, ASEAN and Canada need tocoordinate closely, effectively optimise their existing potential and take fulladvantage of all cooperation opportunities to lift up their relations to a newheight. 

He suggested both sides further deepen their partnership incurrent collaboration areas such as education, training, human resourcedevelopment, health care and natural disaster management, while expanding theircooperation to new areas such as science-technology application, innovation,digital transformation, renewable energy, climate change response, and greengrowth, thus making contributions to the comprehensive and sustainable developmentof their partnership.

Ho reaffirmed ASEAN's consistent stance on the East Seaissue, which heightens international law, trust building, restraint, nomilitarisation, settlement of disputes through peaceful measures, and full andeffective implementation of the DOC and building of an effective COC in linewith international law and the 1982 UNCLOS, thus turning the East Sea into asea of peace, cooperation and development.

According to a notification from Cambodia – Chair of ASEAN in 2022, the ASEAN-Canada Post Ministerial Conference (PMC)will be held on the occasion of the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting andrelated meetings in Phnom Penh from July 31 to August 6./.