Vietnam supports Malaysia’s proposed priorities for the ASEANSocio-Cultural Community (ASCC), said Deputy Minister of Labour,Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa during the 13th meetingof the ASCC Council in Kuala Lumpur on March 26.

He said Vietnam will launch activities at home to realise ASCCpriorities in 2015 and hoped the ASCC’s post-2015 blueprint would guideaction plans for relevant agencies.

In his view, carrying out awareness campaigns about the advent of the ASEAN Community later this year is an urgent task.

Participants hailed Malaysian and ASCC senior officials for draftingkey documents for approval by ASEAN leaders this year, including aDeclaration on the ASEAN Community’s Post-2015 Vision, an ASEANDeclaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of MigrantWorkers, a Plan of Action to implement the ASEAN Declaration onStrengthening Social Protection and a Joint Declaration on Aging andEmpowering the Elderly in the ASEAN, among others.

They praised the ASCC’s High-level Task Force for drafting the ASEANCommunity’s 2025 Vision and the blueprint for the ASCC.

They agreed with recommendations put forth at the 18th SeniorOfficials Meeting for the ASCC (SOCA-18), including holding nationalconsultations with government agencies to collect feedback on severaldraft documents towards building a comprehensive, sustainable, united,vibrant ASEAN community that is human-oriented and socially responsible.

They issued a joint statement and agreed with theASCC Council’s report to be submitted to the 26th ASEAN Summit, slatedfor April in Kuala Lumpur.-VNA