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Viet Nam to continue active role within ASEAN

Ha Noi (VNA) - With the emergence of the Vietnamese economy and an increasing presence on the world stage it is crucial that Viet Nam give a more resounding voice within ASEAN affairs, an official from the Foreign Ministry has said.

In an interview with Vietnam News Agency, head of the ASEAN Department under the Foreign Ministry, Nguyen Hong Cuong, said Viet Nam's admission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has helped to build a stronger bloc of the 10 Southeast Asian countries.

At the sixth ASEAN summit held in Viet Nam in December 1998, the 10 member states finalised the ASEAN-10 and adopted the Ha Noi Action Plan to implement the ASEAN vision towards 2020, a move seen as critical to negating the widespread regional impacts of the 1997 financial crisis.

"Viet Nam has always been active in building the solidarity and unity that ASEAN members enjoy and we are consistent in believing we should protect the basic principles of the association, particularly the principles of non intervention," said Cuong.

According to Cuong, Viet Nam has contributed to promoting cooperation among ASEAN member countries in bridging the bloc's development gap and implementing the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) and the cooperation programme between the Greater Mekong Sub-region and the East-West Corridor and also forwarded a proposal for the building of the ASEAN socio-cultural community, one of the three pillars that the bloc has targeted for final implementation by 2015.

ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong praised contribution made by Viet Nam to the development of the bloc in an interview with the Viet Nam News Agency on the sidelines of the recent forum held in Ha Noi to develop the Initiative for ASEAN Integration.

He said the rapid economic development of Viet Nam would prove to be a driving force for the speeding up of economic integration of ASEAN in the next 5-10 years. "This will be Viet Nam 's greatest contribution to the ASEAN family," stressed the General Secretary.

Viet Nam, with its rapid development made in terms of both position and strength over the past 12 years, is expected to make greater contributions to ASEAN, a community of 505 million people and an annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) amounting to over 730 billion USD.

" Viet Nam will continue to playing a key role in making major decision for the association as well as in drawing up initiatives to promote cooperation among ASEAN member countries in a wide range of areas," said Cuong.-Enditem

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