Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will head a high-ranking delegation to
attend the 22 nd ASEAN Summit scheduled for April 24-25 in Brunei.
Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh told the press on April 18
that with the theme “Our People, Our Future Together”, the even is the
first ASEAN summit to be held this year.
The summit
will focus on ASEAN’s orientations and priorities in 2013 as well as
the group’s orientations for the period from now until 2015 and the
years beyond, he said.
ASEAN leaders will seek ways
to speed up the building of the ASEAN Community and uphold the group’s
leading role in handling important regional issues and the evolving
regional architecture.
Over the past years, the
ten-nation group has proven itself as an important and indispensable
factor to peace, security and stability in the region, the Deputy FM
said, affirming dialogue partners’ support for ASEAN’s central role at
forums and within regional cooperation frameworks.
He laid special emphasis on the need for ASEAN to continue uniting and
bring into play its centrality to build peace, security and stability in
the region.
As a proactive and responsible member
of ASEAN, Vietnam is willing to join the group’s efforts in coping with
emerging challenges and non-traditional security issues, contributing to
boosting regional sustainable development for the common goals of
peace, security, stability and development, Vinh affirmed.
Regarding the Eat Sea issue, Vinh said ASEAN leaders will debate
measures to ensure peace, stability, and maritime security and safety in
the East Sea.
Accordingly, ASEAN needs to ensure
the implementation of principles and commitments stated in the
Declaration on Six-point Principles on the East Sea and the
ASEAN-China joint statement on the 10 th anniversary of the signing of
the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).
It should ensure peaceful settlement of disputes, the respect for
international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea (UNCLOS) and the early achievement of the Code of Conduct (COC)
in the East Sea, Vinh said.-VNA