Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, Aug. 7 (VNA) -- Viet Nam has made practical contributions to strengthening regional solidarity and cooperation since it joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July 28, 1995.

Together with other members of the regional grouping, Viet Nam has actively engaged in the process of defining cooperation and development orientations and making major decisions for Southeast Asia. Those decisions have served not only the interests of individual member countries but Southeast Asia as whole while ensuring ASEAN essential principles of consensus and non-inteference into internal affairs of others.

Viet Nam successfully hosted the sixth ASEAN Summit in Ha Noi in Dec., 1998, helping the regional grouping maintain solidarity and cooperation in its most difficult time as it was severely hit by the 1997-98 financial crisis.

The summit approved a number of important documents, including the Ha Noi Plan of Action and the Ha Noi Declaration. The Ha Noi Plan of Action defined the development path of the organisation in the new century while the Ha Noi Declaration contained overall assessment of ASEAN situation. The declaration sent the rest of the world a message, affirming ASEAN's determination to implement its Ha Noi Plan of Action toward achieving targets set forth in the ASEAN Vision 2020. The message also bore Ha Noi's imprint.

Also at this summit, ASEAN made a historic decision to admit Cambodia to the regional grouping, accomplishing the idea of an ASEAN embracing all 10 Southeast Asian states. The ASEAN-10 vision became true in April, 1999 when Cambodia became a full member of the association.

Viet Nam also successfully played the chairmanship of the ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC) and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in one year ending in July 2001. The 34th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-34), the 8th ARF, and post ministerial conferences (PMC) under the chaimanship of Viet Nam received high appreciation from other member countries and the media.

The approval of the Ha Noi Declaration on narrowing the development gap among member countries, an initiative of Viet Nam, met ASEAN's common concern and conformed to the world current trend.

In addition, Viet Nam also made active contributions to promoting the trend of peace, stability and cooperation in Southeast Asia through its efforts to strengthen the association's legal environment, including the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation, the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and other negotiation mechanisms, particularly the ARF.

The country made practical contributions to ASEAN functional cooperation.

Right after joining the association, Viet Nam became part of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) with commitments to implement the Common Effective Preferential Tariffs (CEPT) scheme. Under the scheme, Viet Nam will reduce all of its tariff lines to between zero and 5 percent by 2006.

Viet Nam-ASEAN trade value annually grows 26.8 percent on average, currently accounting for one-third of the country's total. ASEAN member countries invested 9.5 billion USD in Viet Nam, making up 20 percent of the country's total foreign investment.

Exercising a foreign policy of integration, the country has actively implemented Mekong cooperation programmes, particularly Viet Nam's initiative to develop the West-East corridor, covering poor regions of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Viet Nam.

In the domain of cultural cooperation, Viet Nam put forward an initiave on organising "Week of ASEAN Culture", highlighting the value of ASEAN's wet-rice culture and promoting regional cultural cooperation on the basis of unity in diversity.

At the 35th AMM in Brunei last month, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien affirmed Viet Nam's anti-terrorism efforts and its endeavours to speed up regional integration and cooperation. Nien also pointed to challenges to be faced by the regional grouping in the future and called on member countries to work harder to regain ASEAN's prestige and position in the international arena.

Overcoming adverse impacts left by the 1997-98 economic-financial crisis, ASEAN has gradually regained its economic growth and dynamism.

In the process of regional integration, Viet Nam is proud to have made active contributions to the development of the association and the promotion of regional solidarity and cooperation, thus creating ASEAN's internal strength to advance forward.

ASEAN was founded in Aug. 8, 1967 by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Its four new members are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam.

Over the past 35 years, the regional grouping has experienced many ups and downs. When the cold war ended, Southeast Asian states came to understand that only by strengthening regional integration, can each country as well as the whole region overcome globalisation challenges of the time.--Enditem