Bangkok (VNA) – The East Sea issue has attractedgreat attention from the countries participating in the 52nd ASEAN ForeignMinisters’ Meeting (AMM-52) and related meetings, given the recent developmentsin the waters, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung.

He made the remark in an interview given to thepress following the meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, from July 29 to August 3.

He said the East Sea issue is always on theagenda of ASEAN meetings. This time, it attracted more attention from countriesdue to the recent developments in the waters, especially the Chinese surveyship Haiyang Dizhi 8 and its escorts’ activities in Vietnam’s exclusive economiczone and continental shelf that have violated Vietnam’s sovereignty andsovereign rights.

Many ministers voiced deep concerns over therecent developments, the deputy minister said, noting that all countriesunderlined the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety andfreedom of navigation in and overflight over the East Sea.

They demanded compliance with international law,particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, andcalled on the relevant parties to exercise self-restraint and seriouslyimplement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea. They also voicedtheir hope for a quality, efficient, effective and sustainable Code of Conductin the waters to be finalised soon, according to Dung.

He went on to say that at the meetings, DeputyPrime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh delivered straightforwardand sincere statements in a constructive and friendly spirit, which won thesupport from many countries.

Reviewing the meetings, Deputy Minister Dungnoted they obtained many good outcomes as seen in all the ASEAN members’commitment to continuing to promote the ASEAN Community building. They pledgedto make efforts to step up the Community building across all the three pillarsof politics-security, economy and culture-society.

Many practical cooperation aspects were also promotedat the meetings like combating marine debris, capitalising on new technologies,developing small- and medium-sized enterprises, enhancing business connectivity,and developing human resources adapting to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Additionally, ASEAN’s relations with partnerswere strengthened, he said, noting that the partner countries expressed theirwish to reinforce ties with the bloc and put forth many new cooperationproposals.

Through these events, ASEAN’s stature andcentrality in the regional architecture continued to be enhanced and respectedby all partners, Dung said.

Regarding the AMM-52’s joint communiqué, theofficial noted the participating countries invested a lot of efforts innegotiating this document, and with a friendly, constructive and mutualunderstanding spirit, ASEAN managed to issue a joint communiqué with good andcomprehensive content, fully reflecting the outcomes of the bloc’s cooperationprocess as well as issues of common concern. -VNA