Jakarta (VNA) – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam attended and delivered a keynote policy speech at a ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Vietnam's accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 10 morning on the occasion of his official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat.

The Vietnamese Party chief highlighted ASEAN’s achievements over the past six decades, emphasising the bloc’s important contributions to and its central role in maintaining peace, stability, and cooperation in the region.

He also pointed out new challenges and opportunities facing ASEAN in the context of the global complexion reshaping towards multipolarity and multi-centre; the boom of science and technology leading to fundamental changes in socio-economic life; and the increase of non-traditional security threats such as climate change and cyber security.

The top Vietnamese leader outlined a number of key directions for ASEAN to grow stronger and reinforce its central role in the regional architecture, noting that building on the legacy and continuation of achievements over the last six decades, the group needs innovative mindset and sharp strategies to create breakthroughs for regional connectivity and cooperation.

He emphasised the importance of strengthening intra-bloc solidarity and strategic autonomy, and economic resilience through innovative development solutions, promoting ASEAN’s identity, improving the effectiveness of norm-setting, and boosting the efficiency of the ASEAN Secretariat and specialised agencies.

ASEAN is a key pillar in Vietnam's foreign policy and an integral part of its development and integration strategy, he stated, adding that with ASEAN as the starting point, Vietnam has deepened its international integration and set up diplomatic relations with 194 countries worldwide, including comprehensive, strategic, or comprehensive strategic partnerships with 35 nations, including all ASEAN members and the bloc’s key partners.

Vietnam is now a member of more than 70 regional and international forums and organisations, and the country signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with over 60 countries and economies across the world, positioning it among the world's 40 largest economies and the top 20 in terms of foreign investment attraction and trade scale. Regarding Vietnam's foreign policy and guidelines in the new era, the Party chief affirmed that Vietnam is ready to make more positive and proactive contributions to the world politics, the global economy and the human civilisation.

In particular, defining ASEAN as a multilateral cooperation mechanism with direct and leading importance, Vietnam will promote its sense of responsibility, actively contribute to the common affairs of the association with creative mindset, innovative approaches, flexible effective implementation, and drastic actions, he said.

Speaking at the ceremony, ASEAN Secretary-General Dr Kao Kim Hourn, Ambassadors and Heads of Delegations of several member countries and partners and a representative of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) highly appreciated Vietnam's proactive and positive role in ASEAN in the past 30 years.

The ambassadors highly appreciated General Secretary Lam’s policy speech with his profound assessments, comments and Vietnam's vision on ASEAN.

The ASEAN Secretary-General and ambassadors praised Vietnam for its important contributions to the process of building the ASEAN Community, especially through its ASEAN Chairmanship three times.

They also acknowledged Vietnam's efforts in promoting economic and trade cooperation within the bloc and with countries outside the region, developing innovative initiatives, responding to global challenges and actively contributing to maintaining peace and stability in the region.

Representatives of countries expressed their belief that with the strong commitment and sound leadership of Party General Secretary To Lam, Vietnam will continue to develop prosperously and become one of the important driving forces to bring ASEAN firmly into the new development stage.

After the ceremony celebrating the 30th anniversary of Vietnam'ജs accession to ASEAN, a special art programme was held featuring the performance by Vietnamese artists./.