Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam has been making great strides in projecting itself as aneffective ASEAN leader, particularly with its proactive governance in handlingthe COVID-19 pandemic, climate change policy, and for its political stability,the ASEAN Post reported.

In its articlepublished last weekend, the ASEAN Post highlighted the leading role of Vietnamas the current Chair of ASEAN, saying the country has been actively involvedwith the association since 1995 when it joined the bloc with the aim ofbringing all Southeast Asian countries together to promote regional peace,freedom, and prosperity.

It highlighted that Vietnam is the only Southeast Asian country that has achieved climateaction, according to the Sustainable Development Report 2020. Vietnam ispowering ahead of the rest of Southeast Asia as it pushes for greater relianceon renewable energy.

Regardingeconomic growth, even during these unusually rough times, the Vietnameseeconomy has been remarkably resilient, thanks to the government’sdrastic actions such as tax breaks,the delaying of tax payments, and land-use fees for businesses.

FDI worth over12 billion USD was registered in Vietnam between January and April this year.

In addition,Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of more than 9.9 billion USD, the highestcompared to the previous four years.

Vietnam’seconomy in the third quarter of this year has been positive, registering a 2.6percent growth driven by the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors,which grew 2.93 percent. The industry and construction sector grew 2.95 percentand services grew 2.75 percent. Overall Vietnam's growth in 2020 is expected tobe in the range of 2.9 percent.

The ASEAN Postalso highly spoke of Vietnam as one of the more politically stable countries inthe region.

As SoutheastAsia’s rising star, Vietnam could assume an effective dual leadership strategywith traditional ASEAN de facto leader, Indonesia, it said.

The success ofVietnam's COVID-19 strategy – which is centred on its experience with similarvirus outbreaks in the past – has rightly attracted the attention of theinternational community. The ASEAN member state should be commended for itseffective pandemic policies, which has resulted in low levels of transmissionand fatalities.

Together withIndonesia, Vietnam can alter the security environment of ASEAN and lead theassociation in the right direction in terms of all its member states’individual and collective goals, it said./.