Thailand hands over ASEAN chair to Vietnam
On 4 November
2019, H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-cha (Ret.), Prime Minister of the Kingdom of
Thailand officially handed over the ASEAN Chairmanship to H.E. Mr. Nguyen Xuan
Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Viet Nam’s
Chairmanship of ASEAN will begin on 1 January 2020.
PM Phuc noted
Vietnam has chosen “Cohesive and Responsive” as the theme for the ASEAN Year
2020. He said 2020 will mark five years since the formation of the ASEAN
Community. While efforts to boost regional connectivity and build the Community
are being enhanced, and in the face of swift and complex developments in the
region and the world, the capability of sustainable cohesiveness is all the
more important to ASEAN.
In 2020, Vietnam
wishes to focus on fostering the bloc’s sustainable cohesiveness through
consolidating solidarity and unity, increasing economic connectivity, further
intensifying the values and identities of the ASEAN Community, improving the
efficiency of ASEAN’s apparatus, and stepping up relations with the bloc’s
partners in the global community, the PM affirmed.
Through such
sustainable cohesiveness, the ASEAN Community can promote its active and
effective responsiveness to opportunities and challenges, including the strong
development of science-technology, changes in global and regional economies,
and transnational challenges that are affecting the stable and sustainable
development of countries and people’s lives, according to him.
PM Phuc said
cohesiveness and responsiveness are greatly complementary to each other, adding
that a cohesive and developed community needs to increase its responsiveness to
external factors and, in return, responsiveness can only be attained if ASEAN
is a strongly cohesive bloc.
Vietnam looks
forward to the active support and assistance from other ASEAN members and
partners to realise the spirit of the theme of the ASEAN Year 2020, he
stressed.
Following his
speech, the logo for the ASEAN Year 2020 was debuted, and a short video
introducing the chairmanship of Vietnam screened at the ceremony.